The Rain and the River
by TardisInWonderland
Summary: The Doctor meets a girl with a mysterious past. Who is she and where exactly did she come from? First EVER fanfic I wrote from 08/09. A newly edited/updated version of the deleted one. 10th and 11th Doctors- regeneration was necessary for the plot to work
1. Chapter 1

_This story is being reuploaded due to a lot of changes being made and more practical spaces of chapters. I'm editing as I go. The story starts with the Tenth Doctor, who regenerates into Eleven later on. I wrote this between the series 4 finale and the series 5 finale, so it's pretty... long. Tell me how you like it! Thanks._

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><p>Beep… <strong>beep…BEEP!<strong>

The alarm clock screamed at me to wake up. Again. I sleepily glanced at the clock and then sat bolt upright when I saw the time- 6:50 A.M.… I'd missed the bus by five minutes. Not that I usually caught the bus, but if I could I would grab my skateboard for the ride home and get a free ride to school. I pulled on some khaki cargo pants and a random stretchy tee-shirt, brushed my teeth and combed my hair simultaneously, then ran barefoot down hall.

"Late again?" Maria asked.

"Yes!" I cried while I shoved on some sneakers. I hopped on my bike and rode as quickly as I could through the winding streets in my relatively rural town- I could _not _be late to school again!

See, I live in a foster home. I have all my life- not that it's a bad thing. But no, fate couldn't be kind to me and leave me in one place, oh no, this gigantic should-probably-have-been-a-hotel-but-the-government-bought-it-out-first building was my fifth foster home. I wish they would have let me stay in the Blue Ridge Parkway, or even on that ranch in Alabama, but they were getting so full and I was one of the only two or three old enough to travel alone. Either way, I've never met my parents, who dumped me in a New York foster home the day I was born, where I lived till I was six. Then somebody adopted me, moved south, decided they didn't want me, and hello state government of Tennessee. Currently I'm in the inner part of Georgia- on the outskirts of Atlanta. I used to hope my parents might find me; that they might actually want me, but I gave up on both when I was about four and a half and I wished on every star I saw for a year and they never came. Not exactly the best evidence, but I accepted it for what it was for more realistic reasons as I got older.

Backpack swinging, I ran through the school doors at 7:57 A.M. and charged into first period, sliding into my seat a half second before the bell rang. I managed to make it through last period relatively unscathed from the teasing, and slipped into my biology class unnoticed- exactly how I wanted it to be. While we waited for the teacher to take attendance, I caught some of the other kid's "you're a freak" looks. The foster home, obviously, but I'd also skipped three grades (I'm a Junior in high school, but I started late because of all the moving around) because I wasn't challenged enough, and I'm still in advanced classes, then there's- but the teacher started to speak, so I stopped thinking.

"Good morning, class, I'm your substitute teacher for, well, actually the next three months while you teacher is on maternity leave. Anyway, I'm Mr. Smith!" said a smiling man in a brown suit as he walked in the door. A British man. How strange.

He was tall and skinny, wearing faded sneakers similar to the ones I wore every day, had on black square glasses that he had just pulled out of his jacket pocket, and when he looked at the class I finally saw his eyes- amazing eyes. Even through the glasses I could tell they were amazing- but for a man who looked in his early thirties they were so… old. Like all the years of the universe were packed inside those eyes. I wish mine were half that magnificent- my eyes are just weird because they're just this really dark, slightly-decayed-wood-mixed-with-brown-bottle-glass color… but nobody else has eyes that color, nobody. Also, I see double a lot, and it's supposed to be some kind of convergence issue, but whichever one the real one isn't always looks just slightly different than the other one. Like a color will be more faded or a spot will be on one and not on the other. I have glasses for when it gets really bad, but usually I don't wear them.

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I stood in front of a class of pleased-looking high school students, all of who were grinning and whispering amongst themselves, probably relishing the fact that their teacher was gone for a while. The only reason I was there was because they needed a substitute and this is where the TARDIS took me when I set the sensors in random. You know, now that I think of it not everybody was whispering- I was in an advanced biology class, so everyone was sitting with their lab partners, but there was one girl off in the back- she wasn't doing anything except staring slightly for a second and then pulling her books out of her bag hastily when she saw me looking. She didn't have a lab partner, and she looked way too young to be a junior in high school. I decided to ponder it later and began calling the roll. After a succession of 'here's, I finally reached

"R-" I stopped abruptly. It couldn't be.

"River?" This was 2010. She couldn't be alive- she hadn't even been born yet! The original typed name on the sheet had been blacked out and River was written beside it, like it had been written down wrong. The girl in the back raised her head quietly, her big brown eyes shining even in the dim school lighting.

"Here." She looked like they could be related. It was really uncanny: she had the same curly dark hair, the full lips, and the big eyes. The only thing she didn't have was the olive skin tone, and the eyes weren't the right color. She was even about the right height. I'd say it was genetic multiplicity except for the skin tone and the face shape being just slightly off around the forehead. She was on the pale side of healthy and her face was just slightly less heart-shaped and more rounded, though she did have the prominent cheekbones. Also, the River I knew wasn't half so shy as her, and even though she was very smart I don't think she'd have been a junior in high school when she was that young- how old was that girl, fifteen? It was my turn to stare.

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After class Mr. Smith stopped me at the door.

"River, wasn't it?"

"Yes." Who could forget someone with a goofy name like River? Whoever my parents were apparently liked water and at least bothered to name me before chucking me to the state government.

"Tell me, where did you get your name?"

"I dunno. I guess my parents gave it to me."

"You guess? What do you mean you guess? Don't you know if your parents named you?" Oh, boy.

"No, as a matter of fact I don't. I'm an orphan- I live in the small apartment complex foster home thingy on Oak Street. I guess my parents named me and then turned me over to the state government of New York." he looked puzzled.

"New York? Well, you're a bit far from home, aren't you?" I almost laughed.

"I have no home. No real one at least- listen, I've gotta get back, I'm the one who has to unlock the apartments for the younger kids and if I'm late Ella will chew me out when she gets home from work. Any more questions?"

"Just one. How old are you?"

"16 today. That's another reason I've got to go- my party starts in a half hour." he smiled happily, almost to the point of giggling, it seemed. Elina appeared at the door. She'd lived at the past three foster homes with me, was my age, and was pretty much my only friend at school. She was two years behind me, but we still got to see each other because the middle school was right beside the high school, plus she'd moved up last year.

"River, you ready to go?"

"Yeah! Well, I'll see you tomorrow, then."

"Happy birthday, then! I'll see you tomorrow, River."

"G'bye!" I waved and hurried out the door. What a funny little (well, not little. He must have been at least six feet tall!) man…

Back at the apartments I bustled in the doors to help with the party setup. Quickly throwing my books and coat on the hall tree, I slipped out of my sneakers and skidded into the kitchen in my socks- more literally than figuratively, and I was on my butt laughing in three seconds flat. Ella, our foster mother who we normally addressed by her first name, pulled me up with a finger to her lips, and ushered me into the hallway.

"River?" said Ella. "We have something for you. From your parents." Say what?

"My what? But how, when, who, why would they-" Ella put a hand over my mouth to silence me and held out a rectangular box about the size of a sheet of printer paper on top and four inches thick.

"They, or rather, he, told us to give this to you when you turned 16, but honestly I'd forgotten about it until I cleaned out the attic yesterday. He said not to try and open it till then, because anybody else wouldn't be able to get the latches undone- even though there's no lock that I can see. I'll leave this with you, and you can open it when you will. Don't worry about setting up, we'll take care of it." She kissed my forehead and left.

I stood, frozen and mesmerized in the entryway. Shaking my head, I bounded up the stairs to my room. I sat down on my bed, staring out the window that it was pushed up against. For the first time in a long time, I cried. The hot tears ran down my face and I just sat there for a while- they stopped soon enough. I angrily threw the box under the bed and ran downstairs as soon as my face was clear enough.

The party was wonderful- small, but that was just the way I liked things. The whole foster family (10 kids and 2 adults) got together to play games and eat cake. I didn't have any friends besides them, so there wasn't anybody else there. Not many of them knew what to get me, so by the time I'd opened all the presents I wound up with several handmade birthday cards from the little ones, some new books from Maria (she was the oldest at seventeen, just one year away from aging out), and about $150 in cash. The party ended for the older ones at about 11:00, and we trudged up to our rooms feeling groggy and full.

As I was about to climb into bed my foot hit something hard, and I remembered the box beneath my bed. Slowly and hesitantly, I pulled it up and sat it on the bed, slumping beside it. My hand stayed suspended in midair for a long time before it touched the brass latches keeping the box closed- there were two like a jewelry box has and they seemed to spring open at the touch of my fingertips. I could see on the inside that there were three layers to it, but on the top there was a sealed envelope with my name on it in handwriting that I didn't recognize. I carefully tore it open.


	2. Chapter 2

_"My dear daughter-_

_How much you've grown since I saw you last! You have no idea how much I wanted to be there with you for every second of the growing, but it just wasn't possible. You have every right to feel angry and hurt about it, too, but don't be sad- you'll see me again someday, I can promise that .If you're reading this it means that there are many more challenges to come and you're reaching the time in your life when you're ready to face them. Know that I love you and that it will always be that way even after I'm long gone and all the stars have stopped shining in the sky. I never wanted to let you go, but your father's letter will explain that part. I hope above all things you can find it in your heart to forgive me._

_Love forever,_

_Mum"_

_Mum? Not Mom, but Mum? What's with all the British stuff lately_? Besides, who cares. Screw her for leaving me. There was a second letter inside the envelope, and rather than contemplate that odd fact more I opened it as well.

_"River - I wish I had time to explain more, but you'll be able to find out everything you need to know about what's to come from inside the drawers of this box. Take the key inside this envelope, you'll need it. Around this time you should have a substitute teacher in school that your eyes show you funny things when you look at him- a bald blue-eyed man on the left and a man with shaggy black hair on the right. Don't be scared of him - he'll explain everything if you just show him the key- well, maybe not everything, but it won't take much more convincing than that key to do it. On second thought, you might not want him to explain everything; he doesn't exactly know it yet. If this gets to you too late for that, if the window closes… If all else fails, know this - at all costs you must get to England before the year is up. People are looking for you and the only help you can find is there. Find Sarah Jane Smith. One of these drawers has a document in it appointing her as your legal guardian and she knows me, too. If you get lost, the Doctor says to contact Torchwood Three and ask for Jack, or UNIT and find Martha Jones. Although, I would be careful about contacting them- the call can be traced too easily. If you can't find anyone else, go to Wilfred Mott, but be careful of Donna, his granddaughter, you'll learn about that later. If anyone asks why, just tell them something about the Doctor – he's an old mutual friend."_

_The Doctor? Who's the Doctor? Doctor with a capital D even… Why do I have to get to England? __Who the heck is looking for me? Wait… what key?_ I sat the letters on my bed beside the box. Underneath the papers in the top drawer was a small silver key on a string in an envelope that read "keep this with you". Although it hadn't been touched in years, the key felt warm and almost pulsed with my heartbeat when I looped the string around my neck. There was nothing else on the top, so I opened up the second drawer. It was about an inch deep and inside there were several pieces of paper. One was the document appointing that Sarah Jane person as my legal guardian, complete with names, addresses, and… plane tickets.

Two plane tickets for Saturday, January 02, 2010 at 7:00 P.M. This Saturday.

But how…? I didn't want to think about it, my head was already spinning. There was also $300 in British pounds for help getting to wherever I needed to go paperclipped to it. The next was a map, or rather, a book of maps of the inner London and Cardiff area, specific to the door numbers. There was also a list of names and addresses that included Sarah Jane Smith, Mickey Smith, Martha Jones, the Noble family, and the phone number for Torchwood. I put these on the bed beside the letters. The third drawer was the most interesting. It was about six inches deep and… hold on. Six inches? That's physically impossible- the whole box was only four inches tall! It's…. bigger on the inside? I thought it might have been one of those eye tricks, but my hand went all the way to the bottom when I checked, and what I found there was astonishing. A small metal tube with a light on the end whirred as I accidentally pressed a button on its side. I dropped it in surprise and gingerly picked it up again. There was also a compact, but surprisingly thick manual beside it titled 'Guide to the Doctor's Sonic Screwdriver' written by the Doctor. Whoever he is. Inside it read, Read it, know it, use it. There was another book in the same pocket, this one titled "A Journal of Impossible Things"; it was autographed to 'the Doctor' from Valerie somebody. Who is this Doctor person that everybody seems to know- even my dad knew him! The last book was titled "A guide to Time Lord Anatomy" by the Doctor again. Folded at the bottom of the bag was an ordinary canvas messenger bag, sturdy, about two feet long, with a thick leather shoulder strap and a note attached to it on a luggage tag.

"_You'll never need another suitcase._"

I unzipped it slowly, wondering if maybe… Putting my hand inside proved me right- I could fit my entire arm in it without bending it. Now _that _is what I call useful! It was too early to sleep, so I took out the Sonic Screwdriver guide and started reading.

So, if you're reading this it means you've found the guide to my screwdriver, and if you're not, then… well there wouldn't be much of a point in me writing this, so let's just assume you're reading it. The point is that there are only two sonic screwdrivers in the universe. Well, two _working_ ones in any given time zone, anyway. I, the Doctor, have one, and you, River, have the other one. Don't worry about why your name is in this book. You'll figure it out later.

I read the first half of the book before I couldn't see well enough to read the writing, and then gave up. I threw everything back in the box and started to jump into bed when I realized… Saturday was the day after tomorrow.

The next morning I rushed out of bed quickly and got to school with only one thing in mind- last period. We were discussing the human body, the cardiovascular system to be exact, but that wasn't near as interesting as the man who was teaching it. Gabe- he's this jerk who can't stand to live a day without teasing someone- noticed the key around my neck.

"Check it out- new necklace from the city dump! Or did they finally trust you with a key to your prison cell?" I tucked the key inside my shirt and ignored them. The teacher walked to the front when the bell ran

"Alright, class. Everybody put away your textbooks and take out a pencil and paper. Before we start I want you to write down as many questions as you can think of that you have about the human cardiovascular system. We'll look at these at the beginning of class tomorrow and see if we can answer all of them by the end of the week. You'll turn them in at the end of class so I can look at them." It didn't take long for me to think of one. I wrote down:

**Is it possible for a human to have two hearts?**

I added a few other questions I already knew the answers to just for good measure (I'd already combed every book and every internet source in the world looking for that one question, so I knew practically everything else) and handed it in at the end of class. The bell rang, but I didn't leave because as soon as it did Mr. Smith called for me, beckoning me to the back of the room. He held my paper in his hand. "This question… it's… interesting. Why do you want to know that?" He looked at me questioningly. My eyes were acting up today and the shadow of a blue-eyed man winked at me from the left, raising his eyebrows. "What? What are looking at, what's wrong?" I blinked and refocused on him- he really seemed concerned.

"It's nothing, just my eyes. I have this convergence thing and I sometimes see double…" He nodded.

"Ah. Well, about your question, what made you think of that? It's not like you have two hearts, so…?" I squirmed on the inside, and probably visibly, too.

"Well, I… actually… I… kind of…" He looked at me, but not just at me, more like… into me. It was kind of creepy. _Why am I trusting him again?_Because he has a different man beside him. He's something… different. "Kind of what?"

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"Nothing. Just… I've heard stories." Well, that was a bit of a let down.

"Well, Miss River- that is your name, right?" She nodded. "Yes, well, in all my travels I've never heard of it, but I suppose it's entirely possible considering I've heard of beings with two hearts." She cocked her head- she wasn't looking at me- more slightly to my left, actually. She shook her head and her eyes turned back to my face.

"Sorry. Right…" She trailed off and her eyes returned to my side.

"What are you looking at?" Flicked back to me.

"Nothing. Sorry."

"Yes… Well, I would like to take a scan of your heart and rib cage, if that's alright with you." I fished in my pocket for the sonic.

"Why? With what? Are you even qualified to do this?"

"I'm a doctor, of course I am! Well, you have an uncanny resemblance to a friend of mine, and I'm wondering if… somewhere down the line…"

"We're related?" I nodded. "This isn't going to hurt is it?" she asked. I looked up quickly, glasses falling down the bridge of my nose.

"No! No, no, no. Just take a quick little scan with this," I flashed the blue light of the sonic, "and then we'll be done. No pain, no time. Trust me." She dreamily nodded her consent and I started moving the sonic across her chest. Until I realized she was staring right at the sonic every second she could get a good glimpse of it. "What?"

"Your…" she trailed off, pointing.

"Yeah. It's a screwdriver."

"Sonic? A sonic screwdriver?" My eyes grew wide.

"How did you know that?"

"There's only two of them in the universe."

"You're avoiding the question. And how did you know _that?_ Wait, two? There's only one! Mine!"

"Well, it's kind of a long story, but it was in this box thing and…" her eyes flicked to the side again, staring intently at the thin air to my right.

"I need to see this box... And what in the name of Pete _are you looking at?_"

"What do you mean?" I waved my hands in the air on both sides.

"You keep looking to my sides, but your eyes aren't focused to look _past_ me, so you must be looking _beside_ me- the only thing is… there's nothing there. Or, _I_ don't see anything, at least." What in the world could she be looking at? Unless… but no. No… no… no, no, no…. yes… YES! "But you do, don't you? What is it, go on, tell me." She shook her head, eyes wide and scared.

"It isn't possible…" She started backing away.

"Oh, I see so many things at aren't possible that it's hard for me to believe that something isn't possible anymore. Tell me." She swallowed hard.

"There's a… man there."

"Yes, you told me you see double sometimes, so why are you scared?"

"He… he…" She trailed off again. I pulled out my glasses and put both hands on her shoulders, trying both to calm her and make a point.

"What? You've got to tell me, this could be important."

"He has blue eyes. And a leather jacket. And he's bald." What? She can't be serious- is she serious? "And on the other side- he looks different from you too. Shaggy black hair… Sometimes things look at little different than their doubles, but never like this… " Now this was extraordinary.

"Ok, River. This is definitely not normal, but before I jump to conclusions I just want to meet your mother and father."

"You can't."

"Oh?"

"I don't know who they are. I told you, I'm an orphan as far as I know. But the people at the orphanage gave me a letter the other day from my mom and dad that said…"

"Said what?" She seemed to think for a minute.

"Nothing." I shouldn't trust this guy. I really shouldn't, but if he is who he should be I have every reason to trust him.

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"Alright, then. If you ever decide to tell me, I'll be… well, I'll be somewhere somewhen. Not quite sure which when and definitely not sure which where, but I'll be around." He smiled. I was lost. "Now, I need to run these results through my… er… computer… and then I'll talk to you tomorrow and tell you what I found." I sighed. I shouldn't tell him, but I really wanted to know… He turned and walked down the hall.

"I won't be here tomorrow." He stopped and looked back.

"Ah, yes, it's Saturday! Lose track sometimes. Monday, then."

"I won't be here then either."

"What? Why?"

"It's a long story, but I might tell it to you if you can get me those results."

"Fair enough, I suppose. Come on, if you're coming." He jogged down the hallway and skidded to a sudden stop beside an unused janitor's closet, fished in his pocket, held his screwdriver up to the lock, and after a brief buzzing sound it clicked open. I wondered if… but no.

He disappeared into the closet and I poked my head around the door. There was a giant 1950s Police box blocking the way in. Was this some kind of unused prop for drama? Why wasn't it in the storage room? He fished a key out of his pocket- a silver key on a long string. Just like mine.

"Ok, look. Before I take one more step I need some answers. Actually, two answers. Because judging by this," I pulled out the key from the box, which I kept around my neck, "and your unusual screwdriver, I'm guessing your name isn't Mr. Smith." He looked mildly scared and a little amused.

"What's my name, then?"

"I'm guessing you're the Doctor. And I think you knew my dad." I dangled the key in front of him. "And I'm almost completely positive that this key belongs to you." He held out an identical silver key and gingerly walked over to me. He touched his key to mine and sparks erupted, almost burning me and causing me to drop the key. I snatched it up and he stared.

"That's my key! That's not just any old TARDIS key- that is MY personal key! The same key!" He held up his hand and shook the key.

"But how can it be the same key if you're holding it right now?"

"It's a long story, and I really don't have time to explain it right now. Come on. And yes, I'm the Doctor, nice to meet you. How exactly do you know that?" He hopped into the box. What on earth was he doing?

"But it's just a box! A wooden box painted up for a prop." He winked. I sighed and stepped through the doors into… I don't even know what I stepped into. It was a massive circular room with a round desk in the center fitted with all sorts of knobs, switches, and random knick-knacks that didn't look like they actually served any purpose. Coral-like growths stretched from below the grated panels we were walking on to the ceiling around the perimeter of the room. I gaped. "Wow."

"Bigger on the inside- don't you love it? Now, how did you know I was the Doctor? Not many people know that, you know." He plugged the screwdriver into a slot on the desk, which I later learned was a control panel, and stared at the strange symbols popping up on a screen. "Ummmm… yes. Well, to complete the readings I'm going to need a DNA sample." I ignored the last part.

"There was this note thing… it's a long story. What is this place? And how does it all fit inside?" He smiled.

"This is the TARDIS. Time And Relative Dimensions In Space. It's my… spaceship. And timeship. You know what, let's just call it the TARDIS, it's much easier. What note?" I ignored that too.

"You travel in time?" He was crazy.

"Every day. Well, most days, anyway." I didn't believe it.

"Prove it." He sighed, looking exasperated.

"Humans and proof, right then." He threw a switch and the whole room shook. I fell to the floor, rolling down the ramp towards the doors, but grabbed on a rail support before I went too far. When the shaking stopped I pulled myself up. "Alright? Bit of a rough ride, but all the more fun in the end." He gestured towards the door. I hesitantly walked down the impossibly long ramp and opened the door a tiny crack, then quickly turned around.

"Wait. If I go outside you're not going to leave me or lock me out are you?" He pointed to my hand.

"As long as you've got that key you can get inside. And I'm not going to leave you. Go on."

"Promise you won't leave? I mean, assuming this really isn't all a huge hoax?"

"Promise." He smiled. I turned and cracked open the doors, stepping out into...

The school hallway?

The time on the clock read 7:58, and kids were scurrying to class. Well, except one. Someone was all out running down the hall towards my first period- across from biology. When they got closer I found out why: it was me.

ME! That's ME running down the hall- and I'M watching ME! Someone stuck out their foot and I fell into class-literally. Books and papers flew everywhere, but I made it on time. I backed into the- what was it? TARDIS? I think so. Anyways, I backed into the doors and turned to the Doctor.

"That was last week." He nodded.

"Wednesday, I think." I nodded.

"Someone tripped me in the hall. Again. But if you time travel- all this technology… you can't be…"

"Human?"

"Right."

"I'm not."

"Oh. Ok, then… give me a second to absorb this." Not human? He's an alien. "You look human."

"You look Time Lord. Come here." I did, hesitantly. He placed my hand on his chest so I could feel his heart. Then he moved it to the other side- I could still feel a heart. _No. Way._

"Two hearts?" he nodded. "Ok, I believe you." In truth, I would have been skeptical without all the insane technology around me. "But what's a Time Lord?" I remembered a book with a title like that.

"It's me. My race, my people, where I come from. It's difficult to explain- it would be like writing a book." _Ironic._

"Wait- then how did you know it was Wednesday?"

"What?" Confused again.

"Before- you said _again_. If people trip you a lot how did you know what day it was?" I smiled.

"I fell into the classroom and made it on time." He laughed. "So, um, Doctor- what kind of DNA sample do you need?"

"Blood would be best. But if that's not possible, saliva would do for this particular examination." I made show of thinking about it.

"Hold the needles, please." He held out a petri dish and I spat into it.

"Thank you. Now, while the TARDIS is analyzing this, let's take a quick trip to your house and have a look at that note you mentioned before. Address?" I gave it to him and held on to the rail as tightly as I could. He flipped switches, jumping round the desk in the middle, and finally pulled down a huge handle like you see on dramatic power switches in movies. The shaking stopped and I let go.

"It is today, right? I mean, Friday. The day we left." He nodded. I beckoned and walked out the doors.

"We'll go in the back way. I do _not_ want to explain everything to them." He stared up at the massive building as he followed me around to the back side.

"What do you mean the back way? There's no door here." I laughed.

"Who said anything about a door?"


	3. Chapter 3

_So, I realize this isn't my best writing. It was my first fanfic, and right now I'm just trying to get the story straight. I have decided to leave it as is (minus editing for plot accuracy) because I can look back and see how much I've improved._

After checking to make sure nobody was watching, I stacked up a box next to a trash can, and used those to climb on top of the dumpster. I balanced on the six inch edging until I reached the far side of the structure. From there I jumped and caught the bottom rung of the fire escape ladder three feet away.

"Are you out of your mind?" The Doctor called, half amused. I hung there for a few seconds until I heard a click and the ladder coasted down to the ground. It was easy to hang on today. It's harder if it's just been greased and you have to jump before you're squished when it drops so fast, or when it's rusty and it bucks like it's trying to throw you off. I dusted off and walked back over to him.

"I could say the same about you." He raised an eyebrow.

"Touché." I pulled on my backpack and climbed up the ladder to the second landing, then used a pressure point on the window frame to jostle it out so we could climb through. The Doctor, under my instruction, pulled back up the ladder behind us. "You do realize that you're breaking into your own house?" The Doctor asked as we climbed through.

"Well, I wouldn't say 'breaking in'… more like… sneaking through."

"Really?" He pulled his right leg through and stood on the third floor hall.

"Ok, so, maybe a little. But I only use it in emergencies. Like this." He laughed.

"How did you find out you could even _do_ that? It's not exactly a common… skill." We continued down the hallway towards my room at the far end.

"When I was about seven, someone dared me to climb up the drainpipe and hang on the fire escape ladder. I missed and wound up with a broken arm, but when it healed I thought about trying it again, just to show them up. But the drainpipe was about six feet away, and I couldn't jump that far."

"So you climbed on the dumpster."

"Yep. And I also found an old mattress for a soft landing if I missed. Once I actually grabbed it I couldn't really figure out how to get down, but then it dropped, so… problem solved. You just have to watch out for when the city comes through to grease it, because it drops really fast then, and right before that it jerks the whole way down." I pushed open the door to my room, motioning for the Doctor to stay outside. After checking behind the closet door, in the closet, and in the tall corner cabinet, I finally saw a tiny tuft of blonde hair poking out from under my bed.

"Stella…"A small, four-year-old head poked out from under the bedskirt. "Out."

"Awwww! You never let me in your room." She crawled out pouting. I laughed.

"That's because you never ask before you come in." She left and I motioned for the Doctor to come in. He slid in sideways and I shut the door behind him. I pulled the box out from behind several books in my bookshelf. I'd left everything like I found it the first time except for the two notes, which were under my pillow. I wasn't about to show him those.

"Bit small, isn't it?" he asked. He tried to flip up the latches, but couldn't get them open. I brushed him aside and opened it myself. "That's a bio lock." He said. "That won't be around for centuries- where did you get this?"

"Well, Ella said someone dropped it off with me at the New York home and it's just travelled with me ever since. I never knew about it, but they gave it to me yesterday." He pulled off the top drawers and got to the compartment below- the one that was… bigger on the inside. Just like the TARDIS. I perched on the edge of the bed, which had been pushed against the wall longways so it was under the window.

"Yeah. Yeah, I'd definitely say one or both of your parents knew me. Apparently they also knew Sarah Jane, if she's your legal guardian. Look, this even has her signature on it." I looked- I hadn't noticed before. "And my screwdriver! This is definitely one of mine, but not the same one, considering…" He pressed a button and the light flashed purple. "Yep, this was definitely built for you. And I am definitely the one who wrote those addresses. Nice bag- I've got several in the TARDIS." He flipped through the guide and put it down after a glance, but stopped when he got to the next two books.

"Oh, oh, now that's interesting! A journal of impossible things, and not just any journal- this was mine." He flipped through it slowly.

"Yours?"

"Yeah- it's been published! Scanned and published, just like it was. Well, almost- someone's written in this one, marked up certain passages, see?" He held it open and I glanced in it. "And _A Guide to Time Lord Anatomy_? Written by me? Yeah, your parents definitely knew me, but I'm not sure why you'd need this." He held up the plane tickets and money. "You're not going to do what I think you're going to do, are you?" I looked down, and he sighed, accepting that as his answer.

"Running, huh?" He sat on the bed beside me. "Very me."

"Really? What do you have to run from?"

"Oh, you'd be surprised. For a time traveler, I've got a lot to run from, but it always seems to catch up with me sooner or later." I looked up.

"So, you're coming with me, right?" He looked surprised.

"What?" I pointed to a line on the tickets.

"See? This is a one-way, but the other is a two-way. The one-way is mine and the two-way is for someone to come with me and then go back. It can't be anyone here because Ella would ask too many questions, and I really don't have anyone else old enough to travel with me." He considered it for a minute.

"Alright. I'll come. But we could just take the TARDIS, you know." I shrugged. "Then again, planes are fun, and if they wanted you to take the plane, you should probably take the plane. Timelines and all."

"Whatever you say. Meet me outside the airport tomorrow at six- that gives us time to find the flight terminal, grab dinner, and make a mad dash for the gate before it leaves." The last part was sarcastic. He laughed.

"Fine, but you have to tell someone that you're going. I don't want to see them worried or a missing persons report filed in your name." I glared.

"Fine. Can you find your own way to the window?" He raised his eyebrows, then nodded. "Be careful on the ladder- it's a little tricky coming down, but just make sure to throw the drop switch and test it before you go." Then I thought of something. "Hey, wait!" He stopped at the door. "Remind me again why I'm trusting you?"

"Let's see.. magical space man in a time traveling box… saved the world a few times… I don't know. You tell me." He winked, and then he was gone.

I sank down on the floor beside my bed and pulled out my tiny ten inch laptop from under my pillow. The letters were stored in its case along with some ID stuff, my key when I wasn't wearing it, the USB internet router, my slim iPod nano, and basically anything else I didn't want to lose. I'd spent too long saving for this stuff.

I plugged in the router and brought up Google. Top results for "the Doctor"… all medical results. So I added "TARDIS"… which didn't help at all. Wait! One site… "Defending the Earth". Meh, I guess it's worth a shot. I clicked in it and was immediately redirected to a page full of links. I read through all of them as patiently as possible, then clicked on the link that read "UNIT". I probed their pages and found noting useful, then proceeded to "Torchwood". Again, nothing that useful except a home page I couldn't get past. Then I noticed you could click on the hexagons under the logo... which led to more blocks and more warnings until I finally gave up on finding a way in.

26 hours later…

I walked up to the airport looking for the Doctor. He shouldn't be hard to spot in the suit and trenchcoat, but amid the huge crowd I couldn't find him. I had my bag over my shoulder, packed with toothbrush and toothpaste, floss, soap, deodorant, and other bathroom items in a pink bag, as many of my clothes as I thought was reasonable (aka: not dresses I hate or things with holes in them), several knickknacks and books, the contents of that box, and an old teddy bear and quilt I'd had since I could remember and couldn't bear to part with. The bag still zipped smoothly, and for all the things inside it wasn't that heavy. I found out it did actually have bottom, though. It seemed to retain the weight of the last item put inside plus its own weight, and considering the last items were a teddy bear and two letters, I barely had any weight.

Before I left I made a copy of the certificate with Sarah's signature on it and left it on the table in an envelope with a note saying what I was doing and that I'd be back when I could. At that second I felt a hand on my shoulder and I whirled around.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, it's only me!" I relaxed.

"Hi, Doctor." He waved. "How about getting some dinner?"

"Sounds good to me- we can continue the conversation we started yesterday." I sighed, but my stomach was rumbling.

"Fine. But only because I'm too hungry to argue." We sat down with some measly sandwiches and I started to talk. "So… I Googled you." He half-smiled.

"You did? What's on the internet now?" I sighed.

"Next to nothing. Three hours and the only thing of use were the Torchwood and UNIT pages. Not that they helped much except validating that you _did_ save the world." I said, exasperated. He laughed.

"I had myself wiped from the internet several years ago. I guess it didn't manage to terminate the backup files. At least you know I'm telling the truth, though."

"At least."

8888888888888

A few hours later we settled into our seats on the plane. River took the aisle seat and I took the window seat (it was a small plane, so there were only 2 in every row). Second class- not bad. River looked like she was about to throw up.

"Are you alright?"

"No. I hate flying. I hate flying more than anything, but it's mostly the falling I'm worried about."

"We're not going to fall." I grabbed her hand just as the flight attendant came out for the seat belt/oxygen mask demonstration. She strapped in, then grabbed my hand again as the plane taxied down the runway.

"I hate this, I hate this, I hate this!" she mumbled, but then we were off into the air. Her almost painful grip relaxed.

"See? We're fine."

"Two minutes down, seven hours and fifty-two minutes to go." She said, drawing a shaky breath. I reached into my pocket to fish out something to distract her. _It's a good thing I came- who knows what she might have done on her own!_ My hand brushed a small rectangular box. That's a possibility.

"Do you play cards?" She looked up, a smile coming across her paler than usual face.

"Pick a game." I handed her the box.

After about two hours we gave up on cards- at a complete tie for games won. For the next six hours she managed to sleep, which was good, because chances were she'd have a long day coming tomorrow. This also gave me more time to mull over the situation and become even more confused. The TARDIS flashed me the genetics results to my screwdriver, but that didn't help much, except for the fact that… well, it appeared that she had… two hearts. The TARDIS had charted it as a birth defect caused by the mother being on a specific list of drugs when she was born. That didn't seem to correlate with what I thought, but it was always possible. Of course, it could be because I catalogued the DNA sample as human…

Eventually the plane landed and the shaking woke her up, scared to death. I put my arm around her and she buried her head in my shoulder, the painful grip practically numbing my left hand. The shaking eventually stopped, but she didn't open her eyes.

"Please, please, PLEASE tell me we're on the ground." I patted her back.

"Yes, we're on the ground. You slept the last six hours of the flight." She opened her eyes.

"Ok, good. What time is it?"

"7:00 in the morning here. At your home it's about 1 AM."

"Great. I just _love_ time changes." I laughed and picked up her bag.

"Come on, let's go find Sarah Jane. I'll get you to her house and introduce you, but then I'd better get back." We walked out of the airport and down the street in relative silence until we reached the bus stop.

"River, before we get there, I have one more question for you."

"What's that?"

"The TARDIS sent me the genetics results on my sonic. Did you know… you have two hearts?" The bus pulled up to the stop.

"Yes."

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"How long?" The Doctor asked as we stepped onto the bus. Great. I can't believe he figured it out.

"As long as I can remember. Birth defect- mother was probably a druggee. Please don't tell anyone." I could see the looks now.

"Why? I've never heard of a human with two hearts, but it's not like they're going to run tests on you." I glared.

"They would if they had the chance. And it would only give people another excuse to shun me. Like this Sarah person."

"I'm sure you'll be just fine. Sarah Jane Smith is an old friend of mine, and she's seen stranger things than that. And besides, she has a son who helps her out with her alien busting business, and I think you're going to like him and his friends." I smiled, still skeptical.

"Are you sure?" The bus stopped. "Wait- alien busting business?" I Googled her. I thought she was a journalist.

"If you don't believe me, come see for yourself." We stepped out of bus and walked up a long driveway. Her house was huge. Not big- _huge_. Two stories, probably a basement, and you could only see the whole thing at once from 30 yards away!

"Wow." The Doctor smiled and walked up the front steps. He knocked quietly on the front door- it was only 8:00, so they were probably still asleep. To my surprise, the door opened after a minute or two. A woman with short brown hair about my height stepped out and hurriedly beckoned us inside when she saw the Doctor. She shut and locked the door behind us.

"Doctor?"

"Sarah Jane!" He hugged her and they had a brief 'how've you been' chat.

"Sarah, I'd like you to meet someone. This is River." She walked over to me and shook my hand.

"I've heard very little about you, I'm sorry to say, but I do at least know why you're here. Do you have that paper I signed?" I nodded, confused. Apparently the Doctor was confused, too.

"Wait a minute. How did you know about that? I just now found out myself, so how can you know?" Sarah raised her eyebrows.

"At this point, I'm supposed to tell you 'spoilers.' Does that mean anything?" The Doctor's eyes grew wide.

"Oh, yes." He turned to me. "River, listen, I've got to go, but if you need me, don't be afraid to call." He hugged me goodbye and dashed out the door. A half second later he burst back in. "Oh, and I might look a little different the next time you see me. Maybe a lot different. Maybe like that man you saw before. Can you… still see them?"

"No. Only sometimes, like when I'm tired or upset." He nodded

"Must dash." He ran out the door again. _Which man? The bald guy or the man with black hair? I don't have time to think about this right now!_


	4. Chapter 4

_The beginning of this will seem really random. It's supposed to be- we're picking up from a new character's point of view, and the last chapter was the last you'll see of Ten. It's stated later, but let me make this clear: there has been a big time lapse for the Doctor between what happened before and what is happening for him now._

I woke up in the middle of the night in almost complete darkness. The only faint lights were the glowing green numbers on the clock in the far left corner of the room. 1:46. I'd fallen asleep on the couch in my apartment again, fully clothed, and my head was killing me. In the background I could hear a slight groaning noise, but I really didn't pay it much attention just then, assuming it was the pipes or the neighbors. Or the neighbor's pipes.

_Ok, so this means one of three things. You're sick. _I placed my hand on my forehead._ Which you're obviously not because you're not running a fever. You've hit your head on something, which is possible, or you've got a hangover…_

_ Most likely. _

I could hardly remember anything about what had happened the night before. I rubbed the back of my head, my curly hair acting as a sort of cushion, and slowly sat up. _Ok, so you probably haven't hit your head… _I tried to stand and promptly fell over again onto the cushions, feeling slightly sick to my stomach.

"Alright, let's go with a hangover." My head flopped back onto the arm of the couch and I sighed. I'd had one minor hangover before (when I first reached the legal drinking age- I quickly decided I wasn't likely to drink again. Ever.), but not like this- this was mad! Like what everyone who I'd ever known to have a bad hangover has described, but worse. I groaned and thought about trying to get up again. I quickly decided against it and tried to focus on remembering what had happened.

_Let's see… so I probably have a hangover… but I don't remember a bar or even drinking anything… Ummm… there was, there was a man. Yeah- the man whose key you found. Hmmm… shaggy black hair… tall… and then he… _But from there it all went black. Not a single thing. No wait… just shaking. And yelling and something firing at us… Us? No, it isn't, it can't be… I sighed.

"Where's a doctor when you need him?" I muttered to myself.

"Ah, so you do remember me!" I gasped and sat bolt upright. There was a spinning image of a man with a long face and black hair for a half second, and then he laid me back down slowly, but firmly. "Oh, no, no, no. You need rest." He turned his back to me and walked towards the small kitchen. Some reflex inside my head spoke for me, probably the same reflex that made me stay calm with a strange man in my apartment.

"Hello Sweetie." He looked at me curiously.

"Do you say that to everyone or is it just me?" _I say that to him a lot?_ "And don't you dare try sitting up unless you want to have another fall." I didn't listen.

"No, I- I don't know! What-who- how?" I sat up and swung my legs over the side of the couch, determined to walk. I took two or three solid steps before my footing faltered and my head started to spin again.

"Ahh! What did I tell you? What did _I_ tell_ you?" _He came around behind me and caught me just before I fell. "No standing. Not for a while at least."

"Who are you? And how on earth did you get in here?" I somehow managed to spit out. He looked surprised.

"You don't…? But haven't you…? Oh, you haven't… Yes. Alright, then, I'm the Doctor. Just the Doctor. Nice to meet you. Well, not really- we've already met, I'm just not sure if you remember that yet." I staggered slightly. "Woah!" He caught my torso and picked up my legs, carrying me back to the couch and laying me down as gently as he could. It only half worked, but it was a better job than I could have done. He draped a blanket over me and raised my head to put an almost completely flattened pillow underneath it.

"Nice to meet you. I'm-"

"River Song. Yes, I know. I'll explain exactly how I know sometime… later. Not a good idea just now." His hand rested on my cheek- usually I would deem that a little too familiar a gesture for someone I just met, but at this point I was too groggy to care. My eyes closed and I have a vague recollection of a slight pressure on my forehead- almost like a kiss- before slipping into unconsciousness.

I woke up to the sun in my face, feeling a little cold and a little confused. I fingered the two rings on my left hand- one much too large and only for sentiment, not show. Then everything came rushing back.

The Doctor. Oh, we were somewhere off in the 21st century and there were… aliens. Aliens that… _Oh, I can't remember!_

"Hello!" I jumped as the Doctor's face appeared above me, then sighed, annoyed.

"Will you please stop doing that?" He smiled.

"Maybe. It's just too much fun. Now, first things first, what can you remember? About anything- everything. Please, River, this is important." I thought for a moment.

"Well, for starters, you're the Doctor and…" I stopped, unconsciously fingering my left hand. I cleared my throat and started again. "Well, last night I think we were hanging about in the twenty-first century when… then it all goes black. I can hardly remember you, I can't remember last night or last month for that matter, but I can remember my childhood and everything before that fairly clearly." He nodded.

"Good, that's very good. So- time travel? Sound familiar?" I nodded.

"But why don't I remember anything? And why is it just you? And why do I feel like I have a hangover?" He sighed and settled back into a chair he'd brought by the couch.

"We ran into a small group of Dreiden. Just a few, but they were stuck here. Oh, you know- invade the planet, purge the human race. The Dreiden are scavengers that feed off the memories of a civilization… or a person. If they drain them all then you might as well be dead- you've lost who you are. Or were. I was the person closest to you at the time, so they probably just took memories of me as a side effect. You're not drunk and you don't have a hangover, it's just the memory loss. It drains you physically as well as mentally."

"And they took mine? Why? And where's your traveling companion?" He cleared his throat, avoiding the first question.

"Oh, she and Rory are off on their honeymoon in eighteenth century Florence. Oh, you haven't met her yet… well, you will. Let's see, partial memory loss means that the rest of your memories should start to in…" He checked his watch "About 48 hours from the time they left, so… about now. Not all at once, though, some might take a bit."

"But I don't-" Oh. At this point something fairly snapped inside my head and I remembered. I also managed to sit up and slap the Doctor before he could duck out of my way. The dizziness was gone and I could walk fine again. The Doctor rubbed his cheek.

"What was that for?"

"Oh, you know good and well what that was for, you big idiot! How many times- how many times have I told you that I am not going to let you do stupid things and get yourself killed?" He smiled slyly.

"I'm assuming several." I shook my head, laughing. "You saved my life."

"Yeah, well, 900 years- a lot of memories."

"Yeah. Thank you." I looked away from him, clearing my throat.

"Thanks for sticking around. So, where are we now?" He recovered quickly as well.

"Well, I didn't exactly stick around. I popped in and out for a bit, but I wanted to be sure I was here when you woke up. The last time I saw you was the Pandorica. I need some answers. I've been putting off getting them for too long now." My face turned hard and cold. He knew I couldn't.

"Spoilers. And what on earth is the Pandorica?" I picked up my diary, grabbed the keys, slipped my blaster in its slot, and started to walk out. The Doctor ran in front of me, blocking the door.

"River, please, this is important!" I held up my wrist.

"Doctor, you do realize I have a vortex manipulator and blocking my way is completely useless, don't you?"

"I need to know this!" I was beginning to get rather annoyed, and started punching in coordinates on the manipulator.

"You? Ha! The man who never wants to know anything about his own timeline now comes to me for information? What could you possibly need to know so badly?" He took a deep breath.

"Ok, so I'm not exactly sure how to say this so I guess I'll just come out with it. Of course, on that hand this could be a life altering thing, so maybe I should just-"

"Doctor!"

"Right. Um… are you pregnant?" My jaw dropped.

"Am I what?"

"Pregnant. As in… are you going to have a child… anytime soon?" I was incredulous.

"Do I _look_ pregnant, Doctor?" His eyes flashed to my waist, then back up to my face. He looked slightly… confused.

"No. No, I suppose not…"

"Then where in the world would you come up with a question like that?" I suddenly felt sick. "Oh, no."

"Oh, yes." My hands went up to my face. He couldn't have. But maybe it wasn't- it's not like he could have had proof unless I was there. "You actually weren't with them, but… the resemblance was… uncanny." I could have cried, but I'm supposed to be the strong one, so I settled on looking shocked. My hands were moving of their own accord- I had control no longer.

_River, get a grip on yourself. Time can be rewritten, things can change. _Oh, I wanted a child. I really wanted a child, if it was possible, but if I did have a child, it must have been…

Something metal clattered to the floor.

The Doctor reached out and hugged me, probably for the first time in his time stream.

"Shhhh. River, I need you to tell me something. Please." He let go for a moment and bent down. "When I saw you last I asked if you were married. You wouldn't give me a straight answer then, but I need one now."

"Why?"

"I'm guessing that this," he held up a small, plain gold band, "Answers my question. So… who's the lucky man?" I could feel my heart speeding up- not unusual around him, adrenaline rushes and all, but this was more of a scared feeling. "And more importantly," he looked closely at me, "Why does it upset you?" I sniffed and breathed deeply, hardening myself.

"It's nothing. He's… no one." I bent and picked up the second, larger ring.

"So if he's no one, then I'm assuming that you're either pregnant or will be pregnant soon and he married you as a cover-up, or you really don't want to have kids with him." I rolled my eyes.

"He… leaves a lot. I don't get to see him as much as I'd like to. And besides, I can't have children."

"What do you mean you can't have children? You do still-" I cut him off before he could finish that thought.

"I mean I literally can't. I'm sterile, Doctor." He suddenly turned beet red and rubbed his neck awkwardly. I snatched my wedding band back and slipped it into my pocket with the other one. "Now, if there aren't any further prying questions about my personal life-" I started to try to slip around him, but he blocked me again, both hands on my shoulders.

"River. Listen to me. I need to know this- it's incredibly important. You have to tell me if you're ever pregnant. Really." I rolled my eyes.

"Who are you, my midwife? Why would I tell you anyways?"

"Grrr, I really didn't want to tell you this, I really didn't. I thought I could avoid it, but apparently not, _right Mr. Universe?_" He shook his head, waving both hands in the air, but I couldn't move before he replaced his grip on me. "River. The person I'm talking about is in 2010. And she's almost your double."


	5. Chapter 5

_This is picking up from littler River's point of view, back at Sarah Jane's house._

Sarah and I stared at each other in silence for a while before she spoke.

"Well, let's not just stand here. Come on, your room's this way." She led me up a flight of stairs and to the right into a medium-sized spare room. It was beautiful! The walls were painted pale purple and there was a giant window on the far side. A bed was pushed next to the window, just like at home, and there was a desk on the opposite wall. A dresser rested lazily next to a door which I later found led to a half bath.

"Oh my gosh! This is amazing." I turned back to Sarah, who was smiling. "Thank you so much!"

"Not a problem. Go ahead and get settled in and then come down for breakfast." I nodded and she closed the door. First order of business, unpack. Second order of business, change clothes. I pulled out my bear and quilt to lay on the bed and put the letters under my pillow just like I had before. The knickknacks I'd packed in two shoeboxes went on the dresser and the desk with a spare three-subject notebook. Bathroom stuff went in the bathroom, and clothes in the dresser drawers. I changed into a pair of soft jeans and a tee shirt, chucked my dirty clothes in the hamper, and opened the door to walk downstairs. Well… I hesitated. I used this time to finish the last 20 pages of the sonic screwdriver guide, put it in my pocket, and then went down.

I was just about to turn down the stairs when another door opened and a boy about my age stepped out. We both gasped from surprise, but then recovered and shook hands.

"Hi, I'm Luke. You must be the new girl…"

"River."

"Right." We continued down the stairs towards the kitchen. Breakfast was on the table- eggs, bacon, and biscuits. Sarah Jane was a pretty good cook- I ate every bite, even the eggs, which I usually leave. It was like having a real family again._ Well, except you barely know each other._

"Well, this is a wonderful conversation, isn't it?" Asked Luke, in a feeble effort to break the silence as we washed the dishes. I smiled weakly. I had no energy for conversation. "So, where did you come from?"

"Georgia. Eight hour plane flight."

"You must be exhausted- lost a whole night of sleep, didn't you?"

"Well, I actually slept the last six hours. The landing woke me up and I think I almost cut off the Doctor's circulation from holding his hand so tightly." I smiled.

"So it _was_ the Doctor who brought you here!"

"Yeah. Why?"

"Mum wouldn't tell me. She said I could ask you if I really wanted to know."

"Yeah. My parents knew him. Or, one of them did, at least."

"Wow. That's pretty cool."

"And… he thinks he knows a relative of mine. Maybe a distant cousin or an aunt, I guess." He hesitated and continued washing dishes.

"You… you don't think it's your mum, do you?" I admit, I'd never really thought about it much. No, that's a lie.

"Yeah. I thought about that. But if it was I don't want to meet her. Her and stupid drug habits gave me a birth defect." He looked confused, scanned me up and down.

"You don't _look_ like you have a birth defect." I tapped my chest. Sarah Jane walked into the room from the side carrying a basket of laundry and a newspaper.

"It's inside. I have two hearts." She dropped her basket. Luke (who was drying and didn't have soapy hands) ran to help pick up the dropped clothes, and I rinsed off the bubbles and went to help.

"Mum, what's wrong?"

"Nothing, I'm fine. But I do think I have a job for us." She gave him the newspaper. "Take a look. Third page." I leaned over his shoulder and took a look. It was about a mysterious object found in the Thames and a funny discoloring of the sky at sunset over a particular area of London.

"Smells Sontaran. Or Slitheen."

"Yes, or any other type of alien we've faced, or maybe something new. We need to check this out before we jump to anything. It's time to introduce River to Mr. Smith."

"What?" Luke grabbed my hand and pulled me up the stairs into the attic. It just looked like a normal attic- a little empty, I guess, but pretty normal for a freelancing alien hunter.

"Mr. Smith! K9! We need you guys!" I wasn't quite sure who he was talking to- his voice even echoed- until I heard a small electronic voice.

"Unfamiliar life form detected."

"It's fine K9. River's a friend of the Doctor's- out you come!" A little metal dog rolled out from behind the brick structure that dominated the open space. Fanfare erupted and part of the brick column slid down to reveal a…a…giant computer?

"Hello Luke. Hello Miss. What can I do for you?"

"Hi Mr. Smith. This is River- she's our new roomie." Sarah Jane walked up the steps.

"Hello Mistress." The dog said. I almost laughed.

"I never thought I'd see a talking dog anywhere but in the movies." The dog, K9, responded.

"Negative, Mistress." Ok, then.

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"2010? What- well, how in the world is this child supposed to be my offspring if they're living three hundred years before I was born!"

"I don't know- I'm working it out, though."

"Are you sure it's not just genetic mul-"

"Genetic multiplicity, yeah, I thought of that. But see, the thing is she's accurate, but not that accurate. The face shape is off and the eye color is wrong and she just doesn't have your…" he trailed off.

"My what?" he seemed to fumble for a moment.

"Personality? Yes, that's it, personality. Anyway, she's all wrong for genetic multiplicity." He was starting to annoy me again. And don't even try to tell me that he was originally going to say 'personality'. How stupid did he think I was? _Well, that depends on… yes, I know!_

"Doctor, we're talking about a human being here- she's a girl, not a computer program, and I really wish you'd stop talking about her that way, especially if by some wild chance she _is_ my daughter!" I could have smacked him again, but he caught my wrists.

"I thought you said you were sterile." Oh, dear.

"I am." I stuttered out.

"Well, apparently not completely, as you still think there's a chance you could reproduce."

"It's… complicated. If you don't know yet then I'm not in a position to tell you." He huffed out a breath and squeezed my hands.

"Listen, this could be very, very important, but we have one tiny little piece of the puzzle that hasn't been solved yet, and that piece involves the TARDIS translating a DNA sample I got from her about… well, about two years ago, actually. However, to fully translate it, or at least to figure out what I want to know from it, I need a blood sample. Your blood." _Oh, Doctor. Will this never end? You know I hate giving you DNA samples._

"Fine. Let's get this over with. But I don't get it, normally you would just let all this pass by without much of a second thought. What makes her so special?" He pushed me into a chair.

"You might want to be sitting when I say this." My eyebrows raised and I waved my hand in a sort of get-on-with-it-Doctor motion. "She has a birth defect, or genetic malfunction, or some sort of unearthly thing going on with her that…"

"_That. What." _

"That caused her to have two hearts."

"Two hearts?" he nodded. "Doctor, you don't think…? How do you even know this?"

"I took a scan of her rib cage and it showed up on the scanner. And I think it's possible, but not likely. I've done a little research and there have been plenty of humans with heart mutations before. One boy had his upside down, didn't bother him." _Not likely?_

"Get out." He looked completely shocked.

"What?"

"Go. I'm sorry, Doctor, but I can't tell you everything you need to know now. You'll have to wait and find out for yourself. Go off traveling through time until you find out enough about me to tell you what you need to know. Run. Just like you always do." The last part was barely audible, but somehow he managed to hear it. I caught a slight glimpse of the shocked and hurt expression on his face before I pushed the button and teleported.

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"No!" But it was too late. She was gone. _Here you are, standing in the middle of River's kitchen wondering where she is, and you've got the best tracking technology in the world ten feet away! Yes… but I need a DNA sample for that, which I don't have._

My eyes wondered around the small space- sofa, chair, a kitchen with no table, just a few stools pulled up to a bar, lots of books and papers piled around the empty areas, and… hello, hairbrush.

I scooped it up and ran back to the TARDIS- the DNA from the hair follicles wouldn't provide a signal that was strong or long, but it would have to do. It _would_ do. Well, if I worked quickly, at least. The TARDIS scanned the brush and picked up a tiny trace, which I homed in on- it was not a pleasant trip. The TARDIS lurched and bumped more than usual, and when I saw where she went I found out why:

We were one second in the future, standing at the bottom of a tall apartment complex on a busy street. One second trips are always hard because she has to be so precise. I patted the wood door and locked it, scanning the street for river. She couldn't have gotten far, but there were so many people- then I saw it. A tangled halo of curly hair shot through my peripheral vision and I moved towards it quietly. I'd decided this was the time to bring out my old perception filter key, so I moved about relatively unnoticed.

I followed her about fifty yards through the city, but when I got within ten feet of her she checked over her shoulder, then started to run. _What? It's a perception filter- she shouldn't have noticed me! _Then I had a realization. _You still notice people if you're looking for them._ I chased after her- she was faster than you might think- but she rounded a corner somewhere and must have thought she lost me.

She was wrong.

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I made a sharp turn into a sidestreet alley. Good. I'd probably lost him at this poi-

I made a strangled attempt at a scream as a hand clamped over my mouth and an arm around my waist. I kicked back, hoping to make them release me, but to no avail except for a short cry. A buzzing sound wavered through the air and a voice spoke.

"Ouch! Shush! Good gosh, you're a hard woman to hang onto." I halfway relaxed. You never know who prowls around these cities, but I'd almost rather fight off one of them than have the Doctor holding me right now. I tore his hand away from my mouth.

"And you would know that?" He shrugged, pulling me back through the streets. I punched my vortex manipulator and teleported… directly into the TARDIS. I sighed. _He must have sonicked it. No other way to fool with this thing. And the TARDIS probably isn't about to let me out._

At that moment the doors burst open and the Doctor walked in, a silly grin on his face.

"I knew it! Well, no, I didn't know it, I guessed it. But it worked. Now, please. I need that sample. I've been running from this too long and it's really past the point where I can avoid it."_  
><em> "Exactly how long have you been running from this?" He rubbed his neck, slightly embarrassed.

"Long enough to have regenerated. So, in short, a while." I shot him a disapproving glare and started to roll up my sweater sleeve.

"Fine. Let's just get this over with so I can get on with my life and you can continue wondering about it." I held out my arm, wincing. I hate needles. Especially ones that have to remain in your arm for a time. He shook his head.

"So I take it we have to do this several times in my future." I raised my eyebrows. "Spoilers?" I nodded, motioning for him to get on with it. I sat in the pilot's seat and the doctor pulled out a small tool from under the main console room. I knew all too well what it did- the needle drew blood and the lower part plugged into the TARDIS console for analysis. He probably could have sonicked me instead, but blood tended to be more reliable, especially in my case.

"How long have you had the genetics from the little girl?"

"Eh, hard to say, but the TARDIS has been bleeping an alert on and off for about two or three years, give or take."

"Three years!" He adjusted the settings on the tool.

"I told you, I was running. Now hold still, I really don't want to hurt you." I closed my eyes, waiting for the stab of the metal. It came. I winced. "I take it you're not fond of needles, then?"

"No. No, I'm really not." He studied my expression for a moment.

"Hm. Well, what I don't get is why you were running. It wasn't the needle, I'm sure of that- no one runs from needles, especially someone brave. I think you're hiding something from me."

"Aren't I always?" He laughed.

"Of course. But it almost seems like you didn't _want_ to know what was going on. Like you didn't want a child." _He's wrong. He doesn't know, but I can't tell him. _My chest hurt, right in the middle- physically hurt. He pulled the needle out and I wrapped the non-punctured arm around my waist. I grabbed the gauze from where I knew it was (under the control desk amongst the time clutter) and began to bind my arm. The Doctor noticed and finished for me. "So… am I right? Are you running?"

"Maybe a little. But I think when it comes to this…" I sighed. I didn't want to say it. My chest still hurt. The Doctor plugged in the tool and the TARDIS began to analyze the sample, blue and green lights blinking. I typed something quickly into the database so it would make sure to categorize my blood as human.

"What?" He asked, turning to look at me curiously. I was going to have to say it.

"We're running together." Now I knew what it was- my chest didn't hurt. It was my heart.


	6. Chapter 6

_ Picking up once again with littler River and Sarah Jane. Things really get in motion in this chapter…_

_Also, please keep in mind that when this was originally written we knew nearly squat about River and the Doctor's relationship._

It was an endless ride from Sarah's house to the river. _Endless_. Before we left I'd grabbed my bag and the books from the box to look at. I'd already finished the guide to the Sonic Screwdriver, so I started on the Journal of Impossible Things. I really couldn't care less about Time Lord anatomy right now.

This journal really was impossible- well, for a normal person, anyway. For the Doctor… I wasn't so sure. One time Luke caught me reading it and pointed to one of the drawings.

"That's a slitheen! Oh my gosh, where did you get that?" Which led to a big, gigantic story about how my parents knew the Doctor and gave me this box and yadda, yadda, yadda. He already knew part of it, but I had to re-explain everything to Sarah.

_This is going to be a long ride._

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The TARDIS shook and caused us to almost fall over. Well, River did fall over when the TARDIS gave a final unexpected lurch, but she picked herself quickly. She usually wasn't that clumsy, so I wondered if something was the matter.

"Alright, let's pick up Amy and Rory and we'll see about those results."

"Do you really think it's wise to interrupt their honeymoon?"

"Well, no, probably not. But they've been there for two weeks now, so they're probably getting tired of the lack of electricity and… clean bathrooms… by now." I pushed open the door. "Ladies first." She walked past me, adjusting the strap on her right leg that housed her sonic blaster. _I hate guns. And she probably knows I hate guns, but that's just River._ I stepped outside and shut the door behind me. We didn't exactly blend in: me in my usual coat and bow tie, and River in characteristic black pants, knee high boots, and oversized sweater cinched at the waist.

"Where are they? It's a big city, you know." We started walking down the street in no direction in particular.

"Well, I was thinking we might start near-"

"DOCTOR!" two figures ran down the street towards us, carrying large carpetbags. One had very bright hair.

"Amy! Rory!" I held out my arms and they both rushed to hug me. "Have fun?" Amy sighed.

"Yes, but two weeks without running water, electricity, or sanitary conditions really starts to get to you after a while. I've never been so glad to see an alien in my life!" River smiled, laughing a little. They turned, seeing her for the first time.

"River!" Amy hugged her, too. Rory shook her hand.

"Hi. Nice to see you again."

"Hi. Nice to see you. Um… how long exactly have you known me? Spoilers and all." Amy glanced at me, slightly confused.

"Emorymay ostlay. Onglay orystay. Exnay andoricapay." River rolled her eyes.

"I'm not five, Doctor. I know Pig Latin. And I know who Amy and Rory are, I'm just doing diaries." Rory and Amy burst out laughing.

"You wouldn't think it would still be around in the 51st century, would you? Pig Latin, I mean." Amy asked.

"You'd be surprised how long things stick around. Doctor, maybe you should do them the courtesy of filling them in on the situation." She took Amy's bag and walked back into the TARDIS. As soon as the doors shut I started talking.

"Well, back in… I guess you would call it another life, I met a little girl. Very smart, skipped several grades, nice enough, but suspicious of everything. Now, the one thing that really didn't make much sense to me was that she had this crazy curly hair, high cheekbones, and her name was very familiar. Do you see what I'm getting at?" I cocked my head towards the TARDIS.

"You met River? As a little girl?" Amy asked.

"Close. I think I met her child."

"What's so bad about that- that's fantastic!" Amy said. Rory nodded, probably just to please Amy.

"Yeah, Doctor, I really don't see what's so weird about that."

"What's weird is that the child was living in a foster home in 2010, and the genetics results I have show that she has a mutation that caused her to have two hearts. And River also claims that she's physically incapable of having children."

"Oh."

"Wow."

"Well that's… different."

"Exactly." They looked surprised, but only mildly. I suppose some things just don't quite match up to Daleks and Cybermen. Unless…

"You two do know that I have two hearts, right? Or is that one of those things I forgot to mention again?" Shocked faces. That was what I was looking for.

"I KNEW IT!" Amy cried out suddenly, causing several heads on the street to turn in our direction. I waved and pulled them both inside the TARDIS. "I knew it, I knew it. Didn't I know it? I did, didn't I?" she laughed, but Rory just looked confused.

"What did you know?" he asked.

"Doctor!" a voice called from down the hall.

"Coming! Look, Amy, don't go making assumptions. It's just a genetic malfunction as far as I know and we're going to keep it that way. I'm going to go check the results now." I bounded down the hall towards River.

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"Ok, so what did you know exactly?" Rory asked. I smiled smugly.

"They are so married. Well, not now. But they will be. At least, I think so." He looked slightly confused.

"What? Talk slower."

"River and the Doctor keep meeting up in the wrong order. She knows him, but he doesn't know her that well yet. Yet. It's kind of like River Song's life is a straight line and the Doctor is a big loopy spiral skipping all over the poor little straight line." He nodded slowly.

"Are you just pretending to understand or do you really get this?" I asked.

"A little of both." He shrugged.

"That's what I thought." At this point I could hear footsteps coming down the hall and two loud voices. I motioned for Rory to stay quiet- any noise might stop them talking, and I really wanted to know what they were saying.

"It's not possible. It just isn't possible-"

"There is a gigantic difference between not possible and not probable, River-"

"Doctor, I told you, I can't have children!"

"Why? You told me you can't but you never said why- why do you say you're sterile?" There was a pause here. _She's sterile?_ Rory looked as confused as me.

"She's in 2010, how do you know I'm not her relative down the line?"

"Because she looks too much like you, and not enough for genetic multiplicity, either, so this is the only answer!"

"But the samples didn't even match!"

"Not completely, but you wouldn't expect them to match completely if it were your child, would you? More than one person's genetics were involved-"

"That isn't the point! It can't be right- I'm not even alive yet!"

"Says the woman who travels through time with a time traveling alien who she keeps meeting in the wrong order because guess what? Ooo, he can TRAVEL through TIME!" Footsteps stopped completely for a second, then started again, going in the opposite direction.

"I hate you sometimes!"

"I know you do!" River's steps continued down the hall and I heard a door close. Well, not really close, more like slam. I pulled Rory down the steps so the Doctor wouldn't see us when he came in. I heard loud footsteps (more like stomps, actually) and the Doctor started grumbling.

"Why… difficult… results…genetic…River!" I winked to Rory, mouthed 'play along', and walked up the stairs.

"Something wrong?" I asked. He looked up, surprised.

"How much of that did you hear?"

"En- oof!" I elbowed Rory in the stomach.

"Of what?" I said. The Doctor looked skeptical.

"Smart answer."

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I flopped down onto a bed in a spare room inside the vast expanses of the TARDIS. _I hate him sometimes! Well, you can't hate him too much… Shut up! I don't need to hear this, especially from myself. _ This wasn't the first time we'd had a fight. Probably was for him, but it wasn't for me and it probably wouldn't be the last.

I pulled out my diary and hugged it to my chest. All those times, all those wonderful adventures, and he barely knows a thing. But he will, soon. I hope. It broke my heart.

There was a soft knock at the door.

"Yes?" I sat up. The door opened a crack.

"Can I come in?" It was Amy. Why not? I nodded. She perched beside me on the bed. "So… boyfriend fight?" I made a feeble attempt at a smile. "This is where you usually say 'spoilers', right?" That weaseled a real smile out of me.

"Right. It's frustrating, you know? Trying to get along with someone who really doesn't know who you are… Why am I telling you this?" I couldn't risk talking to her too much so early in her timestream. She leaned back against the headboard, arms crossed.

"I don't know. Kindred spirit, maybe?" I raised my eyebrows. "Eh, either that or I'm the only other woman to talk to in this festering batch of… Doctorness." We stared at each other for a second, then burst out laughing. "Really, though, River. Why are you so scared of this? When I met you it didn't seem like you were scared of anything, let alone maternal issues." _Come on, River, you really need this off your chest._

"It's just… I don't know. It's not that I don't want a child, it's that… I can see where this is going if she really is mine. And it's not somewhere good. By the way, I heard you talking to Rory earlier." Amy's face slowly turned red.

"Oh. Well… I would ask if I was right, but you're probably not going to tell me anyways… are you?" she almost sounded hopeful.

"No." her face fell into a three-year-old fake pout, then she cracked a grin.

"Didn't think so. You two are so married, I don't need you to tell me that." _Let's see… how do I respond to this?_

"I take it you've asked me this before?" She looked surprised.

"You don't remember? Oh, right- time travel. Yeah, I have. Why?"

"What did I tell you then?" she paused for a second, seeming to consider.

"Yes." Ha! She was a horrible liar.

"If I said yes, I lied."

"So you're not married?"

"No, I lied."

"So you are?"

"No."

"Are you just trying to confuse me so I stop asking you questions?" I laughed.

"Yes. And you're a terrible liar, Amy." She sighed.

"Really though, what did you mean when you said you were sterile?" How do I say this?

"It's a… difficult thing to explain. You'll figure it out one day."

"Come on, let's go see what the Doctor is doing so we can get on with this adventure in heredity." She grabbed my hand and pulled me up off the bed and down the hall. Soon we could hear the Doctor grumbling to Rory, so I pulled Amy back to eavesdrop a little.

"Why does she have to be so difficult? I mean, really, Rory, are all women like that or is it just the ones that time travel?" He was jumping around the console with his back to us, waving his arms around angrily.

"Well, I-"

"I mean, it's not MY fault she has a relative in the 21st century- you and Amy probably have descendants in the 51st century! Genetic multiplicity doesn't always work as accurately as it should. But that's not my fault!"

"Maybe if-"

"I don't know- I just don't know! How can she blame me for something that I have NO CONTROL over? How can she be so… so…" _So what?_ He sighed. "Rory, you're really not saying much, are you?" I rolled my eyes and walked out of my hiding spot in the hallway and down the steps.

"You always were one to hold a grudge, Doctor." He looked up, surprised.

"River! Amy! How long have you been standing there?"

"Long enough. Let's get on with things, shall we? Where to?" I asked.

"England, 21st century… but just for me. You three wait here. River, help me out." He flipped a switch to start the TARDIS and I automatically started to man the other side. The TARDIS jumped and lurched as we flew and Rory and Amy just hung on for the ride. After the usual rough landing, the Doctor bounded down the staircase.

"You have really got to stop-"

"Leaving the brakes on, I know! Now, as I said before, _stay here_. As in _right here_. As in _do not leave the TARDIS. _I'll be back soon enough._" _He walked out the doors, came back in the doors, gave us the 'I'm watching you' bit, and then left again. We all turned to each other in silence.

"Does he really think we're going to stay here?" Amy asked.

"Only one way to find out." I smiled, checked my pocket for the TARDIS key, and opened the door.


	7. Chapter 7

Littler River's POV. Picking up right where we left off. Sorry for the chapter spam, for those who have it on alert. I needed to finish this editing project so I could continue another story that references Raina in one of the chapters.

Go investigate an alien landing- sounds simple enough, right? Wrong. Tons of reporters and cameras and UNIT vans and Torchwood people… I tried to avoid them just in case they'd somehow found out I'd tried to hack their systems. Mostly I just looked around and tried to keep my short self from being squished into tiny River pieces from the crowd.

Then I noticed him.

Off to the side- just sort of… watching. Only he was _there_ this time. Not see-through, but tangible flesh and blood. Without consciously making the decision to do so, I was running towards him.

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I jogged down the street, glancing at a newspaper stand just to make sure I got the date right, and made my way to where I was pretty sure they would be- Sarah's house. However, I changed my course when I noticed the newspaper article on page 3.

Alien object found in the Thames? Definitely Sarah. I ran towards the River- I mean river- and finally noticed the giant cluster of TV cameras and journalists near the south side of the city. As I came closer I also noticed a black van pulling up beside the cluster and another car pulling up on the opposite side. Around the same time a group of UNIT troopers and a small cluster of people ran towards the scene. As they approached I noticed three distinct figures: Jack approaching from the opposite bank (across a bridge), Martha running from the UNIT van, and Sarah Jane in the crowd turning to see what all the commotion was about. The bank soon erupted into chaos, and none of them had seen me in this regeneration yet, so thankfully I wasn't recognized. I stood from about 10 meters away and watched.

Nobody seemed to know me or really pay any attention, but almost everyone was pushing towards the scientists on the bank with the covered white sheet. I assumed they had some sort of alien debris or body underneath it. UNIT and their guns pushed back the press, well, except for Sarah Jane, who was talking to Martha on the sidelines. Torchwood also pushed through to the front, and Jack joined the conversation.

However, one tiny head was moving through the crowd, pushing to get out, and fell down in the process, flat on her face in the final shove to get out of the massive gathering. A face with a halo of curly hair looked up, got to her feet, and ran towards me as fast as she could, calling out.

"_Doctor!_" About ten heads turned towards Martha, probably thinking they were calling for a doctor, but most people turned and looked towards her. River ran up and hugged me, knocking the wind out of my lungs. I laughed and hugged her back. They stared. I waved.

"Hello everyone- I've regenerated!" Just then several things happened at once. Martha, Jack, Sarah, and Luke all ran towards me, probably with a billion questions to ask; an astonished press finally turned silent; several other government vehicles pulled up, and something stepped out from under the bridge the Torchwood crew had just crossed. The something was, well, relatively human. Rather… colorful… I suppose, but still human…ish. Their leathery skin served as clothing and the only thing they wore was a small belt around their waists. Red, blue, and green skinned creatures stepped out from seemingly nowhere, but I noticed a slight ripple in the air- invisible ship, no doubt. Dreiden.

The crowd drew back and ran.

River faced them, wide-eyed. The only one with yellow skin stepped forward.

"Hello, Time Lord."

"Ah. We meet again."

"And this time, we shall complete our task." I started slowly backing away, pulling River with me- the key to them is distance. Keep plenty of space and they won't affect you. Their weapons are their minds, but they don't work from too far off- delusions and such to keep you calm while they suck the memories out of you.

"Doctor? Who are they?" River asked. I shushed her, thinking about how to squeeze information out of them.

"And what exactly is your task?" It laughed, an awful, fingernails-on-a-chalkboard sound, and kept walking towards us.

"Oh, you should know by now. I thought sucking the life out of your little girlfriend might knock some sense into you, but apparently I was wrong. And now we're stuck in these disgustingly…homosapien… forms. But no more." Ugh, aliens and dramatic speeches.

"Yeah, I get that, but what I don't get is who you're working for." It stopped.

"How do you know that?"

"Because you lot shouldn't even know about the existence of Time Lords, much less have the technology to track one down, and you don't know me well enough to set up a scenario like this to catch me." It started walking again.

"I'm surprised you don't know yet. You really don't know, do you? Who would want you gone, erased forever from the universe?"

"Well, there've been several people, actually, so why don't you just tell me?" It laughed its horrible laugh again.

"No. I think I'll let you _die_ of curiosity." It walked faster. _Ugh, what an awful joke…_

"Doctor? Doctor, what is that that thing?" I grabbed her hand.

"I'll explain later, but just now I think we'd better run." I pulled her and we took off as fast as we could. I glanced over our shoulders to see the whole group of eight or nine multicolored Dreiden chasing us. River broke her grip on my hand and reached into her back pocket. She had the screwdriver! A wave of deafening sonic energy blasted behind us as she pointed, momentarily crippling the group. It gave us about a 20 meter gain in ground. Well, before we hit the roads.

"That was smart. However, this might not have been the best route choice." I wasn't good with directions, and we'd just hit inner city London, one of the worst mazes in the world. Two motorcycles weaved through the traffic, but what I didn't expect was for them to skid to a stop in front of us. River slid behind me, obscuring her face from their view. A single rider in a huge leather coat threw us two helmets.

"Hello sweetie." I laughed.

"Come on if you're coming!" said a male voice from the other bike. I guess it was better than nothing. I glanced at littler River.

"Ever ridden one of these before?" she shook her head. "Well, now's the time to learn!" I hopped on and she swung on behind me. Thankfully, this particular bike had foot pegs and a back to the passenger position. The driver (who I assumed was River Song) took off like a bullet.

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I screamed.

Well, not really, but in my head, I was screaming. Ok, motorcycles are better than flying, but not by much! We raced through London, staggered with another bike, but even though I didn't exactly trust the people driving, evidently the Doctor did, which meant I was probably safe. Probably.

We eventually stopped in front of an alley, pushed the bikes to a stop 2 blocks over, and ran back to the previous alley, helmets still on just in case they were watching. The Doctor ran down the alley, and I could see that far in the back, hidden in the shadows, the TARDIS was parked. He opened the doors and ushered us all inside.

"Doctor, it looks different in here…"

"Yeah, I know. Had a little redecorating adventure a little while ago."

The Doctor pulled off his helmet first and fiddled with the console desk, then a tall redheaded girl who complained about her hair being tangled in a playful fake whine. The guy she was with took off his, rolling his eyes- he seemed a little puny, but nice enough, I guess. The other rider (I wasn't sure if they were male or female because of the bulky coat they wore, plus I hadn't seen anything of them but their back) was around the other side of the TARDIS hanging up their coat. I pulled off mine next, shaking out my hair, which was pulled back in a fluffy ponytail. The two riders stared.

"Doctor, she looks just like-" she sounded Scottish.

"I know, I know. This is Amy and her new husband Rory." Rory waved. Amy vaguely waved and blinked her eyes a few times.

"R-" Amy started to call, but the Doctor covered her mouth. The third person came around to our side, pulling her helmet off (I knew it was a her now because I heard heels clicking on the floor when she walked).

"What's all the commotion about?" She asked in a definite English accent.

A mass of shoulder-length curly hair tumbled out from her helmet.

Big blue eyes stared at me.

An oval face framed an open, full-lipped mouth.

_Perfect match._

No way.

The Doctor coughed to break the silence.

"River… meet River."

What?


	8. Chapter 8

_Picking up from bigger River's POV this time! I think I've finally introduced all the views- the Doctor, Amy, and big and little Rivers. I never wrote from Rory's POV because I was so far along by the time his character actually developed that it wouldn't have made sense. I've had to go back and change things every time we get new information on River, anyways._

I stared. I couldn't help it- the Doctor was right, the resemblance _was_ uncanny. Scary, almost. I was definitely related to her, which shook me up even more. I blinked a few times, took a deep breath, and grabbed the Doctor's arm.

"Doctor, could I talk to you? Alone?" I asked in a harsh whisper. I dragged him down into the far reaches of the TARDIS, through a short maze of passageways, and into a room. "Who is that?"

"Well, I'm assuming that's your daughter."

"She can't be. She just can't. Why is she even here- does she really need to be here just to meet me?"

"Well, no, but she does have a bit of a unique ability that I'd like to check out." I wanted to scream.

"Well, regardless of whether or not she's mine, she is not a computer program, as I said before. You're hard work young, you know that? And what in the name of sanity are you talking about?" He sighed.

"She can see through time. When she sees double, the doubles look different, and she's seeing them in their future or past. The only thing I could come up with that might have caused it was exposure to the Time Vortex at a very young age. Which means…"

"You took her traveling?" He rubbed his arm.

"Well, possibly. That might also contribute to the fact that she hates flying. Not the actually flying part, just the takeoff and the landing."

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River number 2 (we'd had an introduction after the happy couple left), Rory, and I stared at each other in silence. I decided to break it.

"So… how exactly do you know the Doctor?" I asked.

"Well, I met him at my school. Then he kind of recognized me and there was this thing with seeing double and Sarah Jane papers… it's a long story. Long story short, he said he thought he knew a relative of mine and he scanned me with the sonic screwdriver and got a DNA sample to test." Rory jumped in.

"You don't sound like you're from London. How'd you wind up here?" Good question, Rory…

"I found this box from my parents- I'm an orphan- and it told me to find the Doctor and get to England. So I did. Sarah Jane Smith, she's this freelancing alien hunter journalist, and she's also my legal guardian. I dunno who, how, what, when, or why, but I'm here now." I nodded.

"And I'm guessing River Song is the relative he was talking about."

"I guess. I just hope she's not my mom." Not her mother? Did she just say not?

"Why? Don't you want to find your mum?" She laughed, but it was sarcastic and humorless.

"Why would I want to find my mom? She was probably on drugs while she was pregnant and she gave me up for adoption. Not even in a normal way- she just dumped me on the front porch of a New York home!"

"Wow. Listen, I don't blame you. But River's a really nice person, and- wait? Did you say she was on drugs?"

"Yeah." Rory jumped in from there.

"How do you know that?"

"I have a birth defect that the doctors I've been to say was caused by drug use during pregnancy." I was confused, and apparently so was Rory. She didn't look like there was anything wrong with her. She must have seen the looks we gave her, because she sighed and put her hand on her chest. "I have an extra heart." Oh.

"Yeah, the Doctor mentioned that, it's a little…" I trailed off.

"Interesting." Rory

"Different." Me

"Weird." I slapped Rory for the last one. Little River shrugged.

"It's ok, I've heard worse." We continued talking for a while until loud voices from inside the TARDIS quieted us.

"Oi! Not them again. I'm through with this." I walked up the steps and through the door.

"It gets bigger?" I smiled and nodded. "Wait, what are you going to do?" She pulled something from her pocket. A… sonic screwdriver? I walked back down.

"Is that what I think it is?" She nodded. "I won't ask where you got it, but does it lock doors by any chance?" She flipped a switch several times.

"Now it does." She handed it to me.

"You know, I like you more every minute." She smiled and I turned to find the bickering couple.

It wasn't exactly hard to find them. All I did was follow the yelling until I got to the door where they were arguing. The words were clear now, so I decided to eavesdrop a little before going in.

"Why are you running from this, River? Stop being so ridiculous- it's just a harmless little girl!"

"She's not an it, she's a she! And I'm not running from it, I'm just-"

"Running from it? Yes you are, and you know it! Why are you _so_ scared of having a child? I thought you couldn't even have a child! You've faced Daleks, Cybermen, Sontarans, and at least fifty other different aliens and you're running from A LITTLE GIRL!"

"I AM NOT-"

"WHY are you? And more to the point, why are you trying to DENY having a CHILD?"

"_BECAUSE there's only one way I could ever have a child, and I know who the father would be!" _ They stared in silence: River in anger, the Doctor in shock _and_ anger. _Ok, this looks like a good spot to interrupt. So, how do I get the Sonic away from him? Hmm… Ah-HA! _I edged my way into the room.

"Er… Doctor?" Both heads swung towards me and responded at the same time.

"_WHAT?_"

"Umm… the TARDIS is doing that thing again. The… er… squeaky thing." His brow furrowed.

"With the…" He made a circular loopy motion with his hand.

"Yeah, that." I wasn't quite sure what he was talking about, but if it got me the sonic it would work.

"I'm a little busy for that, just now, Amy. Here." He tossed me the Sonic. _Yesssss!_

"Thanks." I turned like I was leaving and did the fading footsteps trick, but then silently doubled back, slammed the door shut, and sonicked it locked with River's screwdriver.

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Amy walked off, but seconds later the door slammed shut. River and I both ran for it, pounding on it as loudly as we could. I yelled out in case Amy was still close enough to hear.

"Amy! Amy let us out!" Her voice broke through.

"Ok, in case you two haven't figured it out yet, I locked you in there on purpose!"

"What? Why? Amy, let us out this minute!"

"No! Not until you two work it out! I am so sick of all this fighting- either pretend to get along when we're around, stay in there forever, or, my personal favorite, WORK IT OUT ALREADY!" River sank down against the wall.

"Great. So we're stuck here. Why did you give her the Sonic again?"

"The TARDIS was making that squeaky noise again. Well, in reflection it probably wasn't, it was probably just a trick to get the Sonic away from me. But still-"

"What squeaky noise?"

"Sometimes the Vortex Loop gets a little out of whack and I have to sonic it before it gets stuck and I have to stop and do repairs."

"Oh, that squeaky noise. I thought you mean the other one." I stared.

"What other one?"

"Spoilers."

"You know, that's really starting to annoy me."

"Annoy you? You're the one who got me started doing it! You said you didn't want to know anything about your future! Honestly, have you ever stopped to think about how this affects me?" I was silent. "That's about what I thought."

"River, you can't say I never think about you-"

"But you don't. You don't _think_ about me, you _wonder_ about me, which is a different thing entirely." I was flabbergasted! I waved my hands around unconsciously as I spoke.

"I-I-I… I don't have time for this." She suddenly laughed- cold and humorless.

"Doctor, we're _locked_ in a _room_ in a _time machine _in flight inside the_ time vortex_. Don't tell me you just left it sitting there- I saw you put it in flight. You can't exactly use_ that _excuse anymore."

"I don't use that as an excuse! I'm a very busy Time Lord." A voice came from outside the door.

"Married- I'm just saying!" I sighed.

"Amy?"

"Yeah?"

"Go away." She grunted. "Go."

"Fine." I turned back towards River.

"So, where were we? Ah, yes, you were having tantrum about something." She looked utterly indignant.

"Wha? I- I was _not_ having a tantrum, Doctor. And if I was I'm not the only one here who has some growing up to do!"

"Me? Me? _I_ have growing up to do? I am _nine hundred and seven years old_, River. And I'm not the one running from a teenage girl!" At this point she finally decided to slap me.

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When I got back to the console room Rory and River 2 were playing cards. They looked up when they heard me enter.

"Well?" River 2 asked. I tossed her the purple sonic.

"Not much. The Doctor booted me out before I could eavesdrop too much."

"Well, what are they doing back there?" Rory asked.

"Arguing like a married couple. Only worse." I plopped down on the floor next to them.

"Over what?" River asked. _Ok, Amy, the best response here is probably to lie…_

"Well, I'm not exactly sure," _Ok, that's the truth…_, "but it sounded like something about the whole 'my timeline doesn't match yours' issue. The Doctor's getting really worked up about it." She looked confused.

"What do you mean they don't match?" I sighed. Rory gestured at me to explain.

"Ok, so River and the Doctor keep meeting in the wrong order- she knows him, but he doesn't know her." She still looked confused. "Ok, let's try this. Give me your arm. Rory, give me one of those cards." I positioned her arm straight out. "Your arm is River's timeline. It goes in a straight line. Now, this card is the TARDIS." I moved the card up and down all over her arm. "The Doctor can time travel pretty much anywhere he wants along the straight line. Does it make sense now?"

"Sort of. Mostly." I nodded.

"Good. You did better than Rory."

"Hey!"

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_Running from a teenage girl MY FOOT! _

"Doctor, before another word comes out of your fat mouth, I need you to listen to me. I know you don't know who I am, but I'm not running from her." I pulled an object out of my pocket and held it up so he could see. "What is this?"

"Your wedding ring." I nodded, but my throat was closing and my eyes were starting to sting a little.

"And who do you think gave it to me?"

"Your husband. Or, I guess it would be your former husband- the one who left you." I shook my head.

"No."

"No?" He looked at me a little strangely.

"He didn't leave me."

"But you said-"

"I never said he left _me_, I said he left. There's a difference, and a rather big one at that." I turned my back to him. He was silent for a minute, then put a hand on my shoulder.

"River?" I didn't turn.

"What?"

"Before, you said you knew who the father would be if she really was your child. What in the world would make you so upset about that?" _I can't tell him, can I? He wouldn't understand. That man couldn't have handled it…Be strong, River, be strong. You have to for his sake and for yours._ I allowed a single tear to spill from my eye and run down my cheek. My throat was almost filled with rocks, but I managed to choke out one word.

"Spoilers."

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_Well, I think that answers my question._ I did a double take._ Wait a minute- is she crying? Never seen her cry before- properly cry, not just tear up… except when… but that's my spoiler._

"Well, I think that answers my question." I said out loud. "River, before we call Amy to get us out of here there's really something I've got to do." _Are you sure you want to do this? Yes. Been thinking about it long enough._ "Boy, am I going to regret this." She turned around and I could see where a tear- just one- had slid down her face. _She's probably still angry with me, and this probably isn't going to help, but I might as well get it over with while I can…_

"What's tha-" I cut her off. You can't exactly talk when you're being kissed.


	9. Chapter 9

_Picking up with Amy in the console room._

"How long have they been back there?" I asked.

"A half hour just since you got back." Rory said. We'd played four card games and had the timeline discussion since then, and I was starting to get impatient.

"Ugh! How long can it possibly take for two people to work something out! Can't I just-"

"No." The two responded at the same time.

"Why not?"

"It's an invasion of privacy." River 2.

"Plus, it's really kind of rude and nosy." Rory.

"I can't even check to see if they're yelling to be let out?" I asked, hopeful.

"I think we'd hear them- you know how loud they were before." Rory said.

I groaned and flopped back onto the TARDIS floor, annoyed and really sick of waiting. Time travelers…

"Can't I just-"

"No."

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I pushed myself away from the Doctor, a little shocked.

"You know all the times I said I hated you?" I asked.

"Yes. There are quite a few of those."

"I was lying." He laughed.

"So, did I get it right?" he asked.

"Get what right?" he held up my left hand, fingering my ring. I don't take it time traveling, but I guess there are first times for everything. I looked down, avoiding the question.

"Let me guess- spoilers?" I saw my shot.

"Yes."

"That's what I- wait. Was that a yes to spoilers or yes to I got it right?"

"Yes." He sighed.

"Never get a straight answer out of you. Now come on, let's get out of here." He started to walk towards the door, but turned around when he saw I wasn't moving. "Why aren't you…? Wait. Do you still have the…" He motioned with his hands. I held up my wrist.

"And it's still programmed for the TARDIS control room." His mouth hung open.

"You mean we could have gotten out of here all this time?" I laughed.

"Well, we could have, but then we'd have missed all the fun." As a response he took my wrist and pressed the teleport button.

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"That's it!" I'm going back there right now whether you two like it or not!" They looked up from their card came at me, then rolled their eyes.

"How many times is that?" Rory asked.

"Seven." River 2 said. _I have got to come up with a better name for her…_

"Alright, River, not to be rude or anything, but I have got to come up with something new to call you." She shrugged.

"That's fine." Rory laughed.

"Most people are more opposed to a name change than that, you know." She laughed, a real one this time.

"Well, River isn't actually my real name. Not my first name anyways- it's my middle name. There was a typo on the records for one of my foster homes and it just kind of stuck."

"Then what's your real name?" I asked.

"Raina. Pretty similar, but not enough to get me confused with…" She trailed off, cocking her head towards the back area of the TARDIS.

"Why don't you like her? You just met her, and only for a few seconds at that." Rory said. Honestly, I'd been wondering that, too, but I didn't have the guts to ask.

"Look, I'm on my own. I accept that. I've been on my own for sixteen years, and no magical family fairy is going to appear to turn back time and give me a normal life." She laughed. "Especially not now. I don't need a relative, and I especially don't need my mom." Her face turned cold.

"Ok, before we continue with this I think there's something you should probably know." I said.

"And that would be…?"

"River- that River- is from the 51st century. If she is your relative she's probably not your mum. More like a… really great granddaughter or something." There was a moment of silence, and then we all burst out laughing at the thought of River having at least 10 years on her grandmother. There was a static sound in the background- almost like white noise- for a second, but we didn't pay it any attention.

"Hello everyone!"

"Aaaaaaaa!"

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Rory and Amy screamed. River and I laughed and she waved her wrist at Amy.

"Never forget the vortex manipulator."

"I thought I forgot something." Amy groaned. I decided to speak up.

"River-" Amy cut me off.

"Her name's not River." I motioned for her to go on. "It's Raina. Long story short, there was a typo on some records. But now we won't get them confused anymore." I nodded.

"Ri- Raina. Why didn't you shout when we came in?" I asked.

"I saw you standing there before." Rory and Amy looked at her like she was insane.

"That's impossible." Amy said.

"Not impossible, just a bit unlikely. Amy, screwdriver, please." She tossed it to me. "How did we look?"

"What?" Amy asked.

"When R… Raina saw us. How did we look?"

"Well, it was like I could see through you- like double vision- but it wasn't a double." River glanced at me.

"You were right."

"Right about what?" Amy asked. "You know, you really need to start filling me in on this stuff."

"Oi!" Rory said,annoyed.

"And him, too." I took up the explanation again.

"Raina can see through time. You know how some people see double when they get tired, what's it called…"

"Convergence insufficiency." Rory said.

"Thanks. Well, that's what they diagnosed it as, but sometimes the doubles look different. Just a little bit, am I right?" She nodded.

"Except with you."

"Right. Except with me, because then the doubles look _very_ different." She nodded again.

"Wait- what do you mean the doubles look very different? You can't have changed all that much, can you?" Rory asked. River took that one.

"See, Time Lords have this way of… cheating death. They change- their whole body regenerates into a new person. A new man with a different personality." Rory nodded.

"Ok, then. Bit weird, but I guess if it keeps you alive."

"And Raina can see my past and future regenerations on either side of me, right?" She nodded again.

"The… um… man with the glasses? He's like a ghost. He's waving." I laughed.

"This is brilliant! This is positively fantastic!"

"Why?" All four voices responded.

"Because now I know why the Dreiden were looking for me. Well, they probably weren't looking for me in actuality, but they _were_ probably looking for you."

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"Me? Why?" I asked.

"Because if they need to know something, all they need to do is ask you. Yes… yes, it's perfect! If they can project what you see then they'll know what's coming- every single incident they could avoid, and if you amplify it… oh. Oh, yes!"

"Yes, what? Doctor, what would it do?" Asked Amy.

"You could see through the time vortex. You could see every moment in past, present, future… you could create a time lord mentality right in the comfort of your own ship."

"What exactly are… Dreiden?" Rory asked.

"They're the ultimate mental weapon, an alien race that feeds off the memories of a person or civilization. They absorb characteristics from whoever's memories they drain, it's a side effect. They can also cause delusions and hallucinations to keep you calm while they suck out all your memories- you're as good as dead when they're done. Worse than dead, I'd say."

"But why, Doctor? Who would need that technology- and where would they get it?" River asked. Her voice sounded like it was farther away than before.

"Well, I don't know yet, but I'm working it out." I flipped the Sonic around in my hand a few times. "Ah… no…no… no… possibly… yes! No." I groaned. River tapped my shoulder, picking up my hand. "Yes? Little busy." Her face was apologetic.

"I'm very sorry about this." She suddenly leaned forward and kissed me fiercely.

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The Doctor froze against my embrace, stunned. I pulled back and immediately wiped a swab across my lips.

"What was that for?" He asked as Amy giggled.

"DNA sample. Sorry, but there really wasn't any other way to get what I needed." Well, not without consent and needles, that is. I jabbed the swab into a tube that would allow the TARDIS to read the sample.

"River. Please. I know what you're thinking. Give me that." I made a show of thinking about it.

"Umm… no." I took off around the other side of the console desk with the sample. If I could get it plugged in then it would prove what I was already sure of. The Doctor chased me around the console.

"You know, you really shouldn't run with… breakable… glass things!" I laughed and kept running until I was far enough around to plug in the tool to the TARDIS without being in danger of him ripping it out. The TARDIS scanned the sample and I watched the screen for what I was wanting.

"Why did you do that? Why?" The Doctor covered his face with a hand and fell back into the pilot's seat. I typed in an access code on the keyboard and a second later four icons flashed on the screen.

"Because of that." I pointed to the icons. "I was right." Amy walked over.

"Ok, I know you two can, but not all of us can read Gallifreyan, so what exactly does that mean?" I sighed.

"It means that these two," I pointed to the top two, "Have a partial DNA match. And that these two," I pointed to the bottom two, "also have a partial DNA match."

"So?" She asked.

"So these," I pointed to the two symbols on the right side, "are the same sample. And these, "I gestured to the other two, "Belong to two different people."

"Which two people?" Rory asked. "And who does the first one belong to?"

"The first one belongs to her." I pointed to Raina. "This one is mine, which means I'm definitely related to her, and that one…" I hesitated. The Doctor, hands still over his face, motioned for me to get on with it. "That one belongs to the Doctor." Out of the corner of my eye I could see Raina slowly backing away, not even stopping to hear the second half. I turned to her and she broke into a run, heading into the inner regions of the TARDIS. Great. Just great.

"Now look at what you've done!" The Doctor, recovering from his shock, had sprung up from his perch to scold me. "It'll take hours to find her in there."

"She needs to know this. You need to know this."

"Oh, and you don't?" I turned to go find Raina, but I looked back to answer him.

"I already did."


	10. Chapter 10

_Picking up with Raina, running from the room. Again, so sorry about the giant, sudden chapter spam!_

I ran through the never-ending passages of the TARDIS, two rights, one left, up a staircase and into a room that turned out to be a giant closet. I'm talking four levels or more, spiral staircase, and more clothes than I've ever seen in one place in my life! I sat down next to a clothes rack._ Why did you run? Why? It's not going to fix things. But I guess it wouldn't hurt to have some time to think._

I don't want a mom. I don't need a mom. I don't need anybody to take care of me. I hope she's not my mom. I hope she's my great-great-great-great- however many greats granddaughter or even a distant cousin. _But you look so much alike…_ I didn't really care how much alike we looked. If my birth mother didn't want me then, she wasn't about to get me now. _I'm not going to cry. I've cried too much, I'm not going to cry._ Despite my best efforts, a tear slid down my cheek and I took a jagged breath in an effort to stop. It helped a little, and I sat in self-pitying silence. I usually hate pity parties, especially for me, but this was different. This was an "I have to think about my pathetic situation while I still have time to" party. Ick. Even worse.

I heard footsteps outside- I wasn't sure who because all shoes sounded the same on the thick carpet. I shoved myself behind a clothes rack.

"Raina? Please come out." Great. It was _her_. I heard her turn into the room and crossed my fingers. I was pretty well hidden. A half second later the clothes in front of my face parted suddenly. I gasped in surprise and she pulled me out.

"First rule of hiding in a closet. Cover your feet."

"Oh." River nodded and sat, patting the floor beside her. I sat, reluctantly.

"So, why are you avoiding me?" I was silent. "You can't be scared of me- I don't exactly think I'm a scary person. Well, I can be, but only around Daleks." I smiled in spite of myself. "See? There's a smile."

"But… you're from the future. You can't…" She finished the sentence for me.

"Be your mum?" I nodded. "Sweetie, you're sitting in a time machine. Just about anything's possible with the Doctor." She sighed. "That impossible Doctor in his TARDIS…" We sat in silence for a moment.

"So… why do you care about me so much? You don't even know me." she shook her head and shrugged.

"Because I know I'm related to you. And I'm figuring that you probably don't have anybody. The Doctor filled me in."

"I don't need anybody. I'm a big girl, I can take care of myself." She laughed.

"That's what I thought when I was seventeen. I ran off- divorced parents, just graduated, not a care in the world. Then the real world hit. I realized I was stuck in a big city with no place to go, no one to turn to, and there was nothing I could do about it. So, I got a job, went to night school at a local college, and did my best to patch up what was left of my life." Her head tilted back against the wall. "A few years later I met the Doctor." She smiled sadly.

"What exactly are you trying to tell me?" She thought for a minute.

"Everyone needs someone. Even someone you may not want." I started to say something, but she cut me off. "Listen, I know you don't want your mum, but the fact is that… I am. Biologically, if not through… maternal relation. I wasn't expecting to have a child- teenager- thrown into my lap, but here we are." I stood to leave.

"I don't need you." I walked out the door, but she followed me.

"Why are you so set against me? You barely know me and-"

"I know enough. One: you gave me up for adoption, which only happened once for about six months, by the way, so you obviously didn't want me in the first place. Two: you and your stupid drug habits gave me a birth defect that I have to hide every day because I'm afraid they'll try to run tests on me."

"What are you talking about?" I turned around.

"Hello-o? Two hearts? Don't tell me he hasn't told you about that, too, Mother, dearest." She grabbed my shoulder.

"Look at me. _Look at me._" I did, hesitantly. "Do I look like I'm on drugs? I haven't even had you yet, and trust me, I am never going to even drink again, much less do drugs."

"Then why do I have two hearts?" She pulled me into a room on the side and pulled up a chair.

"You might want to sit down for this." I sat, (or rather, she made me sit) wondering what she was going to say.

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_So how do you tell someone news like this?_

"Did you hear what I said about the second DNA match before?" She shook her head. _Alright, this will either complicate things or make them a whole lot easier_. "Your father- my… husband… is a bit of an unusual man." She raised her eyebrows. "You've met him before, I know you have. Oh, how do I say this?"

"Just spit it out already! I can take it." _Do I have any other choice? Erm… no, definitely not._

"The second DNA match was with the Doctor's DNA. The Doctor is my husband- well, not yet, but he will be. He's also your father." She stared for a moment.

"No way." I nodded.

"Yeah… sorry." Her expression changed abruptly and she laughed.

"Sorry about what? That's great!" Wow. Not the reaction I expected. I had to laugh. "Best day ever! My mom's not on drugs, my dad is completely awesome, and- hold it. Rewind. Three questions. One: I still don't know why you got rid of me, two: does this make me half alien, and three: how did I wind up in this time zone?"

"Well, honestly, I'm not sure why I gave you up for adoption. I haven't actually had you yet, but if I didn't give you up then all this would never have happened, so that's probably why. The Doctor probably took you back after you were born- he said the doubles bit was probably caused by exposure to the Time Vortex or time travel at an early age."

"Really? What's the Time Vortex?"

"It's like… it's like the superhighway of time travel. It's what the TARDIS travels inside. And yes, now that I think about it, I suppose it does make you half alien- half Time Lord. I never really thought about it that way. That explains the two hearts." _That doesn't explain it all… but I can't tell her that. Not when the Doctor doesn't even know yet._

"It does?" She looked at me like I was crazy.

"The Doctor has two hearts. It's what allows him to regenerate. Apparently you inherited that quality from him- maybe even regeneration, but you'll at least have a lot of energy. And don't you dare test out that regeneration bit!" She laughed again.

"What?" I didn't think I said anything funny.

"You sound just like a mom." I smiled and rolled my eyes.

"Parenthood." That sent us both into fits of laughter. "Come on, let's get back." I beckoned and walked into the hallway and she followed.

"So, what exactly am I supposed to call you?" We walked through the twisting passages.

"Well, you don't have to call me mum if that's what you mean. River is just fine with me."

"Ok, that's good." We finally got back to the console room after a long, silent walk. I picked up a microphone and spoke into it, broadcasting the signal all over the TARDIS.

"Alright, everyone, you can come back. I found her." I put down the microphone. "And let me warn you, the Doctor is in a slight state of denial slash shock slash I can't believe it slash this is wonderful."

"Sure…" We settled down in the pilot's seat to talk until the others got back. Amy came in first.

"Hello! Get lost quick enough?" She leaned against the control panel and joined the conversation. Rory and the Doctor came in together.

"Congratulations, Rory, you've earned your getting lost in a time machine badge!" He patted him on his back jokingly.

"Hey, I wasn't lost, I just…"

"Didn't know where you were?" He didn't respond. The Doctor barely glanced at Raina. "Ah, good, you found her." He clapped his hands. "Well, we can't hide in here forever. The Dreiden are still down there and as long as they are they'll need to feed. And River especially knows we can't allow that."

"So what do we do?" Raina asked.

"Well, let's see, there are about eight of them and four of us."

"Five." Raina said. He looked at her, seemed to remember she was there, and then continued. _It'll take him a while to get used to this._

"No, four. You can't go anywhere because that's exactly what they want. The only thing we have against them is to get them sleeping or into some kind of state where they aren't at the top of their mental game…"

"Don't tell me there's some kind of alien knock out gas." Raina said sarcastically.

"Actually, there is, and it's called a sonic wave. But we're not going to use it until our very last resort. We are going to short out their amplifiers, though."

"Amplifiers? What amplifiers?" Amy said. I slapped my forehead.

"Of course- I remember! They have these belt things that amplify their psychic ability because it's so short range. Usually they have to touch you to make it work. So how exactly do we take them out?"

"I can help, you know-" Raina tried, but the Doctor ignored her.

"First of all, we lure them back towards their ship."

"I'm assuming that means you throw yourself out there, they chase you, and we follow to make sure they don't double back." I said.

"Right!" We really didn't have another option or I wouldn't have gone through with it.

"So what do we do from there?" Rory asked.

"We follow the plan." The Doctor said.

"What-" He shot me a look. "You don't have a plan, do you?" I turned to Amy. "Never does."

"Well, I have a vague resemblance to a plan this time. We have two options: disable the belts one by one or disable the device that provides power to them all."

"I vote take down the whole thing." Amy said.

"Well, that seems simple, but it also involves sneaking onto an invisible spaceship, avoiding the aliens, and, assuming everything else works out, getting out alive afterwards." I sighed. This was usually what his awful excuses for plans consist of: do something that leads to several other things and hope to make it out alive. I jogged over to the console desk.

"If we're going, then let's not just stay in flight. Hold on to your hats everyone!" I pulled a switch and the TARDIS was off. The Doctor ran to the other side and Amy, Raina, and Rory grabbed on to whatever solid things they could find. "Doctor, don't you dare-"

"I'm not leaving the brakes on!" Between the two of us (and me shutting off the brakes when he wasn't looking) we brought the TARDIS to a smooth, noiseless stop. Raina looked defiant and the Doctor paused. "River, do you still carry around those handcuffs?" I reached into my pocket, dangling them in front of him.

"Why?" Before any of us could move, he'd grabbed them from me and handcuffed Raina to the TARDIS console desk.

"What? Doctor, you can't do this to me!" She pulled, maybe hoping they might come lose.

"Not going to happen- those are River's handcuffs, they'll hold anything." Unfortunately, he was right. And I don't keep the key on me- it's not like I'd want whoever I handcuffed to get away, especially if it was him.

"Why are you doing this? It's not like you!" I grabbed his arm, but he pulled away.

"We have to go. Come on." I had no choice. But something I did have was intelligence, and a good memory. If she'd had what I think she did before… as the Doctor shoved Amy and Rory out the doors, I mimed sonicking the handcuffs open. Raina nodded and winked. _Perfect._

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As soon as River shut the door, I used my free hand to pull the Sonic from my back pocket. _Which setting, which setting… 257!_ A second later the handcuffs clicked open.


	11. Chapter 11

_We're picking up outside the TARDIS with the Doctor. I'm sorry it's been so long! I'm not going to make excuses, I just forgot, honestly. I thank anyone who is still willing to read this after me making you wait and wait and wait!_

* * *

><p>"Alright. Here's how it's going to work. I'm going to send out a signal from the Sonic that they can trace, and when they start to chase me you three follow behind. They'll drag me onto the ship and you'll come in behind me."<p>

"How do you know they won't just kill you then?" River asked.

"I don't. But I do know they're working for someone, which probably means they need me alive, at least long enough to question me." All three looked skeptical. I fired off a signal from the sonic. "Hide. Now." River shot me one last glare and then ran around the corner.

"Time Lord…" All eight Dreiden were behind me, appearing from the tops of buildings and manholes as well.

"Ok, time to run." I took off through the city streets, slowing just enough after about six blocks so that they could catch me without thinking I wanted to be caught.

"Too slow." The yellow one said as two green ones grabbed my arms. I made a mild show of struggling, but not enough to really get out. I slumped, hoping the others were behind me. The Dreiden marched me the last two blocks towards their ship, which had been surrounded by bright orange and guards. (Well, the shadow from it had at least, you still couldn't see the ship.) The yellow one knocked out the guards and we proceeded over the barriers and into the ship.

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River, Rory, and I stood behind a UNIT van and watched the alien take out the guards. River waited until she was sure none of the Dreiden would look back, then made a mad dash for the place where they'd disappeared. She pulled her sonic blaster from the strap on her leg and tentatively went inside. A half second later her disembodied head poked out from the ship.

"All clear. Let's go." Rory and I stepped inside. Woah. It was a technical world! Purples, blacks, and whites decorated practically the entire ship, with tiny flashes of other colors in the wires poking out of the walls. "Well, if you two are through gaping we need to get to the primary flight deck. That's most likely where the machine is, but if it isn't we can at least find out there." She turned left and walked confidently down the corridor.

"How do you know which way it is?" I asked. She pointed to a sign on the wall. It read "Primary Flight Deck" and had an arrow pointing the way she'd gone.

"Oh."

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"Come on, girl, you have to think of something…" I had just gotten out of the TARDIS and was trying to follow the tracks of Amy, Rory, and River. I knew they'd gone towards the river, which was something, but London was a maze. Plus, I had no idea where I was going. _But I might be able to trace the Doctor's screwdriver…_ Working on a hunch, I used my screwdriver to set a lock on the signal from the Doctor's. It was like hot/cold hide and seek- it would beep faster when I got closer and slower when I was farther away.

_Alright, navigation solved. So what do I do when I get there? _I had no idea. All I knew was that they were trying to disable some kind of power source for those amplifier things, whatever they were. And they might be in trouble. That made up my mind- I ran towards the ship as fast as I could.

8888888

I approached the door to the flight deck. It should have been locked, but it had been left open, and upon inspection I found that the locking mechanism was pretty simple.

"This is too easy." I said. "They want us to come in here."

"But do we really have any other choice?" Amy asked. She had a point.

"No." Fingering the trigger on my blaster, I slipped through the door. Nothing really seemed to be in the room, so Amy and Rory slipped inside. The door slammed shut behind them.

_I knew it._ A video screen popped up with one of the Dreiden and the Doctor, who was strapped to a chair.

"So, we meet again, Miss Song. And let me assure you, this time you will die. The transmitter you are looking for is in the room, but you will never find it, nor do you have the means to disable it. We never got to thank you for leaving us in these forms, but as soon as we're finished with the Time Lord, we shall come for you."

"I'd like to see you try." I said. It laughed and the video feed cut off.

"What did it mean 'leave us in these forms'? And can't you just blast us out?" Amy asked.

"No, if I blasted the door it would trip the alarm and the whole ship would go into lockdown. As for the forms… The Dreiden adapt certain characteristics from people they take memories from. A few days ago- well, for me, who knows how long it was for them- they took mine. Just a few- the Doctor was able to stop them before I reached the point of no return."

"What's the point of no return?" Rory asked.

"The point when all the memories you've lost are gone forever. I was lucky. Most people aren't."

"Most people don't have the Doctor." Amy said.

888888

I wandered blindly through the halls of the spaceship, abandoning the sonic tracking system for two reasons: one, it made a lot of noise this close, which would not only alert them that I was here, but it was also really annoying. Two: I figured they wouldn't be very close to the Doctor, considering that that's probably where the aliens were. Acting on a hunch, I turned left at the door.

My footsteps were almost silent, even on the metal floors. I continued along the up sloping passageway until I reached a locked door at the end that read: "Flight Deck." I pressed my ear to the door to listen for people inside. I heard three hushed voices. They sounded like human voices, but I wasn't sure. I knocked on the door.

"Get away from that door or I swear I'll blast you to the next galaxy!" River!

"River, stop! It's me! Stay right there, I'm going to try and get you out."

"Thank goodness! Listen, the locking mechanism isn't that hard to figure out, but you have to be quick once you hit the button to show the lock or you'll trip the alarm."

"Can't I just sonic it?"

"That might trip the alarm, too!"

"What happens if I trip the alarm?"

"The whole ship goes on lockdown and we never get out of here!"

"Gee, no pressure or anything." I mumbled to myself as I pushed the button. The lock was a bunch of geometric shapes- a triangle inside a circle inside a square. _Oh, what did we learn about this in geometry…_ There was a number pad beside the door. So… what number do all three have in common? Quadrilateral, triangle, circle- come on, Raina! They have nothing in common! One had 4 sides and right angles, one had no sides and no angles, and one has 3 sides and acute angles! Absolutely… nothing. _That's it!_ It was a four-digit code, so I punched in 0000, crossed my fingers, and hit enter.

The door gave a hydraulic hiss and clunked open. I slowly poked my head around it and came face to face with Amy.

"A-ha-ha!" She jumped up and down like a little kid. "We're free!" She started to leave, but River pulled her back, leaving the door open.

"We still have to find that amplifier. Keep looking." Rory was searching around the control desk and River was looking at the monitors trying to find the Doctor. Amy slumped against the wall in despair.

"This is going to take- Waaa!" She fell back slightly as a section of the wall pushed back. Another section slid over on the opposite side, revealing one small box and a half a billion wires connecting it to the ship. I laughed.

"Congratulations, Amy, you win the scavenger hunt!" She rolled her eyes.

"This is amazing! This must be connected to some kind of antenna on the ship. It's broadcasting the signal for miles around." I pulled the Sonic from my pocket.

"Let me at it." River held me back.

"This has to be done carefully. Our hands are too big, so it has to be you. You have to do this how I tell you, alright?" I nodded. "Ok, press the switch there to put it in stasis for five minutes." I did. "Good, now open up the top compartment and look for the orange chip. It controls the range, so remove that one first." I carefully opened the box and removed the chip. "Now take out the green one- it's the memory. Without those two chips the system is basically fried."

"How do you know all this?" I asked.

"You learn things traveling with the Doctor. By the way, I know where he is. Let's go." We stepped out of the room to find him.

About that time the alarm went off.

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Strapped into a chair near the tail end of the ship, I heard the alarm blare. The yellow Dreiden hissed.

"Your friends have escaped. But don't worry, you shall be reunited soon enough." Four Dreiden took off down the hall.

"Oh, I don't think so- they're not stupid enough to return for me. Besides, once you're done with whatever you need me for you'll just kill me anyway, am I right?" It turned towards me.

"You stupid Time Lord. We don't need you. You're noting more than bait, and your friends as well. All we need is the girl. And when we find your friends, they shall look on as we feast on your memories."

"Oh. Oh, my. Well I'll tell you right now that she's not here, and I'm going to get out." Two seconds later the doors clicked open and in walked River… and Amy… and Rory… and Raina, brandishing her Sonic Screwdriver. _What? _"I handcuffed you to the TARDIS! How did you…? Oh." The group plugged their ears as she pressed a button on the screwdriver. An ear piercing sound erupted and the remaining three Dreiden slumped to the floor.

"Always carry a Sonic Screwdriver when you plan to be trapped in a spaceship with aliens." She released the metal clamps on the chair and I hopped up. "Let's go."

"Raina, what did I tell you about last resorts? You can't just goa round knocking people out-" We turned a corner towards the door.

"Do I not get a thank you? I did just save your life, you know?" We reached the door, which was shut and bolted. River pushed us aside.

"Out of the way." She blasted a hole in the ship's hull (it didn't really matter now- this was the only way we could get out) and we climbed out. Only when we were already ten feet away did we notice.

"_Doctor- where's Raina?"_

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A sticky, leathery hand clamped over my mouth and around my waist. I tried to scream, but to no avail. I threw my screwdriver out the door so they wouldn't get it and the Doctor could find me.

"What are you going to do to me?" No response. They dragged me down the hall and clamped me into a chair like the Doctor's, but mine had something over my head as well, plus a bunch of wires. The alien pushed a button and the machine started. My head grew warm and my vision blurred, but I could hear the aliens talking over a video feed.

_"Time Lord…"_


	12. Chapter 12

_Picking up with the Doctor once again!_

We ran back to the TARDIS to see if we could track her. We couldn't get back into the ship- there were too many guards and the hull was self-repairing. Plus, we already tried that and the room they were in was deadlocked.

"Ok, I'm hooking them up on a video feed… now!" The screen fuzzed to life and three Dreiden stared back at us.

"Time Lord."

"What have you done with my friend?"

"See for yourself." The camera turned and we could see Raina hooked up to some sort of machine, encased in a transparent bubble of energy.

"Doctor, that looks like…" River said.

"It doesn't just look like it- it is."

"What is it?" Amy asked.

"Right now, Raina is encased in a bubble made out of time energy. The essence of the time vortex is wrapped around her, and look-" I pointed to the slight reflections in the bubble, "It's what she sees. She is seeing through time and they're amplifying that…" River's hand went up to her mouth- her focus was past the bubble, on Raina.

"Doctor, look. It's killing her." She was pale, definitely to an unhealthy point, and barely able to keep her eyes open.

"And the energy she's exerting is powering the ship- they bring her back, whoever they're working for can see every moment of the universe inside that bubble. They would have all of time and space to manipulate to their will. So long as they keep her alive…" I had to act fast. "Raina? Raina can you hear me?" Her head moved slightly.

"Doctor?" I spoke to River before continuing.

"Hold that video feed. Once they hear what I'm saying they'll try to cut us off." She nodded and I handed her both Sonic screwdrivers. "Listen to me, Raina. They're taking you away- in five minutes the ship will have enough power to take off from the time energy you're giving off. There's something I can do, but it won't work if you don't let me do it." The screen fuzzed a little, then cleared.

"What is it?"

"I can bounce all the time energy around you back into your head- if I do it, you can't reject the energy, you have to open your mind and let it in. The force will explode the ship." The screen fuzzed, longer this time. River was working like mad to hold the connection. "You can survive the time energy because your body is used to the stress, but you may not survive the explosion. If you do survive… I don't know what will happen to your mind." She took a shaky breath. The screen went completely black, then clicked back on.

"Is this a fate of the universe thing?" I paused for a minute, considering. "Don't lie to me, Doctor."

"Yes."

"Then do it."

"Are you sure?" The screen flashed on and off for a second, but River sonicked it and it cleared.

"We've got about two minutes before the connection fades, Doctor." River said.

"Yes. Just one thing before…" I nodded. "Rory and Amy, you've been amazing friends. I wish I'd known you better. Doctor, thank you so much. If I do die, then at least I know the truth- keep saving the world." She choked up a little, and tears were falling. "River…" She coughed. "I'd be proud to call you my mom." The screen blacked out and I plugged the sonic into the TARDIS to send the signal.

8888888

The screen shut off. A Dreiden tried to get towards me in its anger, but was thrown back when it touched the bubble. I tried to concentrate on letting back in the time energy when a high-pitched squeal sliced the air. Sonic wave.

Let it in, let it in, let it in…

I could almost feel the energy flowing into me, but it was healing, not painful. Only after that did the pain come. And after the pain came the black.


	13. Chapter 13

_This is picking up with River back inside the TARDIS._

* * *

><p>"It's done." The Doctor said. He was completely emotionless. "We should wait a minute and then…"<p>

"See if she's alive?" My voice was choked up, despite my best efforts. He nodded.

"She saved all our lives, you know. And she might have died for it." Amy said. Rory put his arm around her, but was silent. The Doctor checked his watch and cleared his throat.

"Yes, well, I suppose we'd better go get her." We started out the door, but I held the Doctor back.

"What's happened to her?"

"Worst case scenario, she's dead. If she's alive the worst is that she's lost her mind. Best case she's perfectly fine. But most likely…"

"Most likely what?" We started to walk down the street, towards Amy and Rory.

"She's alive. She's healthy, but out cold. More than likely she won't remember anything that's happened since Thursday." He seemed so… detached.

"You know how I tell you sometimes to be less emotional? Well, what I don't understand is why you aren't more emotional. You just lost a daughter. Why?"

"Because I can't afford to be emotional about this!" He was angry now "It's too hard. The last time this happened I lost Donna. And before was Rose and…"

"Who?" _Why can't he tell me? He always tells me things like this._

"No one."

"Apparently it was someone, because you seem really torn up about it."

"You'll find out later." _I'll take his word for it, I guess._

"Doctor, please. She's your daughter, and I know that somewhere down there, there's some kind of Time Lord paternal instinct that's telling you something." A few tears spilled over from my eyes. I was tired of being the strong one. "And I also know that you at least cared about her, even if you don't feel fatherly. Doctor?" He kept walking. "Doctor, look at me." We reached the area where the ship had crashed, and I stopped on the very edge of it. He stopped and looked down at me. "Don't tell me you can't feel anything right now." He looked.

888888

_I can't take this! _Everyone says the life of a Time Lord is beautiful, brilliant, magnificent… but it's not. Not all the time. I'll tell you what it is, though. It's _long_. And looking down into River's eyes just then gave me a sense of just how long it was. I'd lost so many people- Rose, Donna, Susan, Adric, and so many more… and now my daughter. I was going to lose River one day, too. In a way I already had. I sighed.

"No." She looked up, disgusted. "I can't tell you that." Her expression changed abruptly. She blinked and nodded, spilling a few tears from her eyes, then quickly wiped them away. I pulled her close and she hugged me tightly for a minute or two. I couldn't see, but I could feel her chest heaving up and down in a silent sob. I kissed her forehead. "Are you ready?" She pulled back, wiping her eyes. She took a deep breath and nodded, ready to go on like the soldier she was at heart.

"No."

888888

When I turned I saw Rory and Amy were running towards a small lump in the grass, and when we saw who it was the Doctor and I ran as well.

Raina was lying in a tumbled heap on the ground. Amy put her hand under her jaw.

"She's breathing, but her pulse is a little slow. Both hearts are beating. Rory checked her for broken bones a second ago, but she seems alright. How could she have survived that explosion?" The Doctor knelt down beside her, running the sonic up and down her body.

"The time energy must have made a shield around her- like a cocoon, except tougher. A whole lot tougher. Tough enough to withstand an explosion. She'll be unconscious for about 48 hours or so." I stroked her face, holding her head in my lap.

"So what do we do with her?" Amy asked.

"We take her home. Fly her back in the TARDIS to about twenty minutes after she left, tell her foster parents she hit her head or something and won't remember much about the past day or so, and then leave. Well, you all will. I still have three months worth of biology class to teach."

"You teach?" Amy asked.

"Well, I was looking for suspicious signs around the school- it's a long story. But it does need to be lived, even if I don't stay for long, and it should give me a chance to see how she's doing when we get back. Rory, is it safe to move her?"

"Yeah, should be, so long as you don't jostle her around too much." He nodded. I heard sirens and looked to see an unmarked car pulling up to the site along with a unit van and medical team. A tall man in a trenchcoat ran over to us and knelt down beside the Doctor, followed by the UNIT medical team leader.

"Hello Jack, Martha."

"You know them?" Amy asked.

"He knows everyone," I said, "He's had nine hundred years to meet people."

"Doctor, nice to see you again. You regenerated, I see. Who're they?" Jack asked.

"Amy, Rory, and River Song." Martha shook our hands. My face was clear now, except for being just slightly red around the tear ducts- if you hadn't seen it you wouldn't have noticed I'd been crying.

"Hello-" Jack tried to continue, eyeing River and Amy.

"Don't even think about it, they're married."

"I'm just saying hello!"

"That's what you always say, and it's a lie every time."

"Doctor, who is she? The girl on the ground." Martha asked. He hesitated.

"Who is she, Doctor? Do you know her?" Jack asked.

"How did you find her?" Martha added.

"Did the ship explode? How did she get so close to it and survive? We couldn't even get inside the thing!" Jack continued to pound him with questions. I jumped in.

"Oh, for pity's sake, she's his daughter!" Jack and Martha both looked up in shock, identical looks across their faces.

"What?" They both asked, and then questions fired off like bullets.

"Like your biological daughter?"

"Well she-"

"Is she like Jenny? That… what was it- generated anomaly?"

"No and-"

"That's the girl who ran up to you in the crowd, isn't it?"

"Yes but-"

"Is she a Time Lord? Or… Time Lady, I guess."

"_Quiet!_" The Doctor shouted. That shut them up. "I can't answer everything at once, and frankly, I don't really want to-" I interrupted him.

"Doctor, how do you know these people?" He raised his eyebrows.

"Jack's an old friend from World War 2 and Martha traveled with me."

"And they're good friends of yours?" Jack took that one.

"Yes, we are and we have a right to know this!" Their flurry of questions started again, but the Doctor did nothing this time. I groaned.

"Will you shut up! Now, we don't exactly have a ton of time before the rest of the government shows up, and we really need to get my daughter back to the TARDIS before that happens!" Now the shocked looks were directed at me. Jack's was confused as well.

"I thought he said you were married."

"I am." Martha caught on first.

"You're married." Martha said slowly.

"Yes." I held up my left hand, flashing my ring. Then it clicked for Jack.

"To him?" Jack asked.

"Yeah, I know. Took you long enough to catch on." I said. They glanced at the Doctor's hand, looking for a wedding band. "Well, he isn't married to me, but I'm married to him. It's a very long, complicated story."

"But-" Both tried to start. I held up my hand.

"You can ask your questions on the way, and personally, Jack, I think you're the only one here strong enough to lift her." He nodded, glanced at the Doctor, who motioned for him to lift her. Her head lolled against his shoulder, chest rising and falling rhythmically. Our small group headed back towards the TARDIS.

"She looks like you." Said Martha after a while, breaking the silence. I smiled.

"A little, I suppose."

"A lot. The hair, the mouth, the face shape…" The Doctor jumped in.

"I thought you were freelancing with Mickey, what happened to that?"

"I was- special favor to UNIT coming back, since this mission had to do with you." Amy laughed.

"The ultimate mission impossible, he is." I couldn't help but laugh.

"You hit the nail on the head there! The things I could tell you…"

"I'd like to hear some of those stories." Martha said.

"Me too." Said Jack.

"You do realize that I'm standing right here, right?" The Doctor said. "And no telling stories that I haven't even heard yet, much less lived."

"Yes, I do realize that." Said Jack. "And may I say your wife is very attractive." I rolled my eyes. "Worth a try." The Doctor slapped his forehead.

"Yeah, not really. And she's not my wife, not yet." He paused for a minute. "What exactly _are _those stories, by the way?" I smiled.

"Spoilers." We turned the corner into the alley where the TARDIS was parked. The Doctor opened the door and Jack carried Raina inside and lay her down on the pilot's seat. Amy sat down on one end to hold her still.

"Martha, can you please help hold Raina? I have to help fly."

"You can fly the TARDIS?" that was Martha and Jack together. I was getting tired of this.

"YES! Now it's a long story, he doesn't know the half of it," I gestured to the Doctor, "we keep meeting up in the wrong order, and Doctor, where exactly are we going?" His head snapped up.

"I'll handle the destination, you just worry about your half of the console."

"Fine." I flipped the switch to start us off. The TARDIS shook and spun in its usual way, and we sped towards three days ago. I pressed the stabilizers and pumped the vortex loop, just managing to take off the brakes before we landed.

"Hey! Where's the noise?" Jack said.

"Wha- oh. Yeah, he-"

"Yes, I leave the brakes on already!" Martha and Jack burst into laughter. The Doctor picked up Raina from the pilot's seat.

"Wait!" I said. I reached around her neck for the string with the TARDIS key on it, threaded my wedding band on it, and tied it loosely around her neck. "Just in case." The Doctor nodded, catching what I meant.

"I think it's best if you all stay here and leave the explaining to me." We nodded and he walked out the doors.


	14. Chapter 14

_Please forgive this extremely long chapter! Though, it is the LAST chapter, unless I decide to put the epilogue and the after story of how I wrote River and the Doctor's first meeting. You know, before Moffat made it complicated. :) Thanks, Readers! It's been a great ride._

* * *

><p><em>Let's see… how do I break this to them?<em> About the time I reached the front walk a woman came running out in a state of distress.

"What happened to her? My word, is she…"

"No, no, she's alive, just unconscious. She passed out in the park, but she passed all of the medical checks just fine. We're not sure what caused it, but I knew her from school and volunteered to bring her home." Not the best explanation, but I hoped it would do. She opened the door and I walked inside.

"You're her teacher?"

"Well, just a substitute. But that's a little beside the point right now. Where's her room?" She led me to a side hall with a decorative curtain over it. After checking to make sure no one was around, she pulled back the curtain to reveal… an elevator? We stepped on carefully.

"I make sure the kids don't know about it. It's only for me and only during emergencies at that. Her room is third floor. This is a foster home, you know- it was supposed to be an apartment complex, but some things happened." The elevator dinged and we walked out. She directed me to her room, even though I already knew where it was. I laid her down on her bed gently. "How did you find out where she lived?"

"Address in the bag she was carrying. Now, I must be going. She should wake up in 48 hours, give or take, and be perfectly fine for school on Monday. But don't let her out of bed until then if you can help it. She's weak."

"Thank you."

"You're welcome. Oh, and she might have a slight case of amnesia when she wakes up. Everything say… before Thursday should be fine, but after that there's a possibility it might be gone." She nodded.

"Alright. I'll try to help her out when she wakes up. Should I tell her you brought her back?"

"Ah, no, no. I was never here." She nodded.

"I suppose I'll see you around town then."

"Oh, maybe, maybe not. Hard to spot me sometimes."

"I highly doubt that." She eyed my coat and bow tie.

"Yes… Well, I'd better be off." She walked me to the door and I gave her a note that Martha wrote out- she _was_ a legitimate doctor, after all. While I walked I considered a thought that had been playing on my mind for some time. _I wonder who the Dreiden were really working for… _I pushed the though out of my head for the moment, collected myself, and sauntered down the street towards the universe in a blue box.

888888

Somewhere far off in space a signal echoed out to a lone spaceship. A messenger marched up the steps leading to the flight deck, bringing no good news for the captain.

"Sir, our plan has failed. The Doctor is still alive." His commanding officer viewed a screen showing a dark-haired man walking down a street in Atlanta, Georgia.

"Very well. Proceed with Operation Pandorica."

888888

I woke up to the alarm blaring with a huge headache. Ella walked in my room, looking a little flustered.

"Good, you're awake." I moaned.

"What day is it?" Everything was so fuzzy from the past few days… no. Fuzzy was an understatement. It was more like everything was black.

"It's Monday. You passed out in the park on Saturday and hit your head. You may not remember much. You don't have to go to school if you don't want to."

"No, it's fine." I looked down at myself. "Why am I still in my clothes?"

"You've been asleep for two days. Come on, get dressed. If you want to go to school I'll drive you." I pulled on some jeans, sneakers, and a tee-shirt. Some of my clothes seemed to be missing… but I didn't have time to think about that. When I pulled off my shirt I'd noticed a key and a gold ring on a long string around my neck. I wasn't sure how it got there, but something didn't feel quite right about taking it off.

I grabbed my backpack and bustled downstairs, grabbed a granola bar for breakfast, and ate it on the way to school. The teachers were all really nice about the memory thing, and it seemed to come back a little as the day went on- well, until Friday afternoon, that is. Then it went black. I just… couldn't remember. I was so preoccupied with the thought that I crashed into a redheaded woman as I passed by the main office.

"Oh my gosh I'm so sorry!" I bent down to pick up my dropped books and she helped me gather the scattered papers.

"It's fine." She was Scottish. A tiny bell tinkled somewhere way in the back of my mind. She looked up smiling- round face, green eyes.

"Amy!" I paused. "I- I don't know why I said that." Flashes of memory hit me: blue box, redheaded girl and a massive, shaking room. I shook my head. The woman I accidentally called Amy winked, handed me my papers, and walked down the hall. I heard the warning bell and tore through the school towards Biology. I slid into my seat just in time. Someone noticed the string around my neck.

"Oh, look! She added a charm to her pathetic necklace." Gabe snickered. I pulled my jacket closed over it and picked a seat safely in the middle of the room.

"Hello, class!" A man walked towards the front of the room. Black hair, dress shirt, and a- a bow tie? Flashes again- oh, my head! Everything coming back so quickly… "I am your new substitute, Mr., um, Pond. Mr. Smith had a few… personal issues to attend to, but trust me, you won't get any slack from me." He smiled. A few students moaned. He shot down the roll call list, but I only paid attention when my name was called. "River?"

"Raina." I said automatically. _What? I haven't used that name since I was six… _Several people gave me odd looks.

"So, today we're going to talk about genetics, as you finished the cardiovascular system on Friday. I've brought in a couple friends of mine- Dr. Song and Dr. Jones. They're going to give you an overview." _Doctor… just Doctor… capital D… River… River Song…_ So many things came back… the TARDIS, Amy, Rory, the box from my parents, I could almost picture the Doctor, but there was still something missing…"Ladies, you can come in now." Heels clicked on the tile floor and a woman walked in. She was wearing a black skirt, white top, and a black hat with a veil, so I couldn't see any of her face except her mouth. Her hair was also caught up under her hat. Another woman walked in- beautiful brown skin and a white doctor's coat- the tag read "UNIT: Doctor Martha Jones". _Martha…_ a very, very vague bell came back- the addresses in the box! _Wait- what box?_ From the side of the room Principal Halloway (a woman) entered with her clipboard. I guess she was doing one of those routine check things- either that or she was just interested.

"Hello, everyone." Said the first woman. Several of the students elbowed each other. "Alright, basic overview of genes." She was British. And wore really bright lipstick. The voice was really familiar… An hour later my head was spinning, and not just from the complicated information they were hurtling at us. Every now and then the Doctor- _wait. Who is the Doctor?_ I couldn't remember. Not clearly, anyways. It was like a dream, you know? One of those dreams where you know you dreamt something you want to remember and need to remember, but you just can't quite grasp it? Mr. Pond would interrupt them every once in a while and they'd un-complicate something they'd just said. It was pretty interesting, actually.

"Ok, so to wrap things up, genes are the biological units of heredity that make you look the way you do, have your blood type, even what diseases you're most prone to wind up with. Well, in their simplest form." Doctor Jones said. She nodded to Dr. Song, who continued.

"Yes, and even if you don't know who your parents are you can still find out by doing a DNA test, which will prove if you're right or wrong." It almost felt like she looked at me then. "Then there's the nature vs. nurture theory, but you'll get into that later on. Any questions?" A few kids raised their hands.

"Why is it that not all kids look like their parents if the genes come from their parents?"

"Well, some genes are dominant and some are recessive. For example, curly hair is a recessive gene and won't show up unless both the father and the mother have had curly hair somewhere in their families." River- Dr. Song said. Why did I say River? That was my name. I unconsciously fingered the ring and the key around my neck.

"Are birth defects hereditary?"

"Well, it depends on what type of birth defect you mean. Most likely, if someone has a birth defect it implies either specific types of cancer were present during the pregnancy, there was some strange factor in the environment, or that the mother was on drugs." My hand clenched hard over the string. _No she wasn't! What?_ There were no more hands up, so we thanked them and waited for the bell to ring. They stood by the door, Dr. Jones was talking, but Dr. Song was silent, hand on her forehead under her veil. I fiddled with the ring.

_This looks like a wedding ring. But why would someone give me a wedding ring? And who does this key belong to?_ Some reflex in my head said 'TARDIS', but I wasn't exactly sure what a TARDIS was.

"Something wrong, sweetie?" Dr. Song asked, almost out of thin air. I looked up.

"Who? Me?" She nodded. "No." She pointed to her face. I brushed my hand across my own- it came off wet. I hadn't even noticed I was crying. I never cry- I can't afford to look pathetic. A few people snickered, three or four genuinely looked like they cared why I was crying.

"Something funny?" She asked to the group. "Well?" She looked at (or at least turned her head towards) Gabe.

"No, no not a thing." Gabe said. Then softer he added, "Not our fault cry-me-a-River doesn't have anyone to relate this lesson to." That got a few snickers out of his friends and a few awful looks from the rest of the class, but it just made me mad. I shot him a dirty look and looked down, wiping my face. Dr. Song's mouth formed a tight-lipped line. Mr. Pond stepped up again.

"I think that's it for today, well, except for one thing." The class groaned. The lecture had already fried their brains. "The lesson you've learned today can be most plainly expressed in a parent-child relationship. Sometimes it shows up in cousins or more distant relatives, but usually it's more prominent in parents and children."

"So what are we supposed to do? Go home and say 'hey, mom, will you come to biology class so I can demonstrate genetics?'" Smart aleck. It was one of the idiots in Gabe's group. The Doc- Mr. Pond smiled. _Why do I keep calling him that?_ There was something I had to remember, but it was like my brain didn't want to remember it.

"I've got something better. At this point I would like to re-introduce one of the women in front of you." Dr. Song walked to the center of the room and slowly took her hat off so we could see her- all three in front were smiling. "Class, I would like to introduce my dear friend Dr. River Song." Her face. She- she- she-

I gasped and jumped out of my seat, turning my chair over in the process, and ran up to the front of the room. She smiled and opened her arms. I hugged her so hard I almost thought I strangled her, but she was laughing and hugging me back the whole time.

"Hello, sweetie." She said- it was loud enough that the whole class probably heard, but nobody said a word. I cried. I cried until my eyes were sore in front of the whole class, but I didn't care. All the memories I'd lost came rushing back to me, and I looked over at the Doctor and smiled.

"Hi." I whispered, speaking to River. "I have your ring." I took it off the string and gave it to her. She slipped it on and glanced at the Doctor, a Cheshire Cat smile playing across her face.

"Thanks." He smiled and addressed the class.

"I'd like you all to meet River's mum." That set off an uproar. Everyone in the class was talking and whispering. Well, except Gabe, who just looked a little scared from the menacing look River had shot him. One loud voice cried out the question they were all thinking.

"How do you know?" It was Principal Halloway. She was a middle-aged woman whose previously red hair had turned mostly gray. She'd moved from England eight years ago and could diminish her accent appropriately. "When did you find out?" The Doctor walked up to her.

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"Grace? Grace Halloway?" She looked astonished.

"What are you-" The accent came back.

"TARDIS, time and space, new face- you used to be a surgeon."

"No- Doctor?" I smiled.

"Eleven at your service." She laughed.

"You regenerated! So you know-"

"Yep."

"And you used-"

"Uh-huh."

"To…" She gestured at River and Raina. He nodded. "So who is her…?" He raised his eyebrows. "No."

"Yes."

"No!" About that time River held up her ring.

"Yes." She said. Then she spoke to the extremely confused group of students. "Mr. Pond has some extremely powerful software at his disposal- friends in high places, I suppose. He used that and two blood samples to come up with a DNA match." There was a basic "ooohhh" reaction and a couple seconds later the bell rang.

"You should have been able to tell without the technology. You look so alike!" Grace said.

"That was what clued me in. It's a long story, but the point is," I checked to make sure no one else was in the room, "don't tell the kids their teacher is an alien." She smiled.

"I won't. It's good to see you, Doctor. But you do realize who I'm going to phone first if she's not at school." I laughed.

"Well, her mum lives about 3000 years in the future and you don't have my number."

"Worth a try." She shrugged and looked at Raina, who was both happy and confused. "I suppose you're off, then?" She nodded, and Grace smiled. "Have fun." I turned to her.

"Oh, and I think you might be missing something." I tossed her the white canvas bag, all packed with her belongings from Sarah's house. "And this." Her purple Sonic screwdriver followed. "Although, around the house you might only want to use it for screwing in screws." She laughed.

"Maybe." A second later a blond girl appeared at the doorway.

"Hey, River, are you ready to… go?" she took in the sight of the classroom, then saw River and Raina. "Oh my gosh."

"Elina, this is River Song. She's my mom- my real mom."

"Wow. Well, that's unexpected." River laughed.

"It was for me too, trust me." Elina started to open her mouth, but Raina cut her off.

"I'll explain later, but I don't think I'm taking the bus today." I shook my head and dangled the TARDIS key to confirm her speculation. Elina nodded.

"I'll see you at home, then."

"See ya." We waited for her to get down the hall, then made for the storage closet.

"It was nice to see you again, Grace." She nodded.

"You too, Doctor." We walked inside and I shut the doors. Amy, Rory, and Jack were all standing inside.

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"The Time Lady returns!" Amy said, laughing. "So, are ready?" The Doctor nodded.

"Yes." He pulled a switch and the TARDIS was off, flying through the Time Vortex. I hung on for the ride, laughing, just happy to be back. Somewhere in the back of my mind I wondered where we were going. After the shaking stopped I voiced the question.

"Where are we? When are we?" He gestured towards the door.

"Take a look." I walked down the ramp and opened the doors, stepping out in… the living room of our foster home.

"What? But I'm not leaving, I just found you guys!" River and the Doctor stepped out with me, motioning for the others to wait.

"You've got a whole life here. A whole big world to explore and change and just_ live_ in. Sometimes time and space can't compare to even that." I felt like crying and plopped down on the lumpy brown sofa.

"So you're leaving me again."

"No! No, no, no!" River sat down beside me. "We'll be back if I have anything to say about it, which I will. But I'm from three hundred years in the future and the Doctor spends his life traveling about the universe. You wouldn't have a chance with us."

"So?" She smiled, putting her arm around me.

"Sweetie, you've got the whole universe at your fingertips. But you need to finish school and know what a normal life is like, too. It'll come in handy later."

"River's right. As much as I hate to admit it, school is really important. And I've got books to write and a box to dig out." I nodded.

"I know. But you're not going to just abandon me, are you?" They both shook their heads.

"Have you got a cell phone, Raina?" The Doctor asked. I pulled it out of the white bag he'd sat on the floor. He did something to it with his sonic, and when he handed it back the screen read "UNIVERSAL ROAM ACTIVATED".

"No way." I smiled.

"Anytime you need us, anytime at all, just call. It phones everywhere everywhen, so you'll always be able to catch one of us. Just make sure your mum knows who you are before you start talking too much. And…" he sat down on my other side. "This summer I am coming back to take you and your mum on a vacation." I smiled. "What do you think? You and me."

"Time and space?"

"Time and space." The Doctor hugged me and leaned against the TARDIS while River and I said our goodbyes.''

"Bye River." She hugged me.

"Bye Raina. I'll miss you- but if you need me just call, alright?" I nodded.

"And don't you dare try not coming back, ok?" She laughed.

"Wouldn't dream of it." The Doctor opened the door and she started to walk inside, but about that time Ella walked in from grocery shopping.

"Aaaagh!" She screamed and dropped her bags, probably shocked that there was giant blue police box in the middle of our living room. River and the Doctor poked their heads around the corner.

"I think we've got some explaining to do…" The Doctor said. I laughed and rolled my eyes- _happens every day._

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"So, where do you want to go now?" The Doctor asked. We'd dropped off Jack and Martha and we were all standing around the console desk.

"I think you might want to drop me off at home." I said. He looked astonished.

"What?" I checked my watch.

"You're due to meet me again very, very soon, and I'd rather not be there when that happens." He laughed and flew the TARDIS back to my apartment. He stepped out and Amy winked, motioning for me to go and holding Rory back from stepping out. "Oh, and there's something I need to tell you." I said when we got outside.

"What's that? Spoilers, remember?" I nodded.

"But you need to know this. If anything ever happens to me, you need to find my diary and read the last page."

"River-"

"Promise me, Doctor." He nodded.

"I promise." There was a minute of silence before he continued. "Well, normally at this point I'd ask you something along the lines of 'who are you', but considering I already know…" I laughed.

"So, now that we've got that particular issue out of the way- what exactly do you think of me?" He stood there for a moment, just looking at me- right in my eyes- considering. Soon enough he seemed to make up his mind, stepped a little closer, and wrapped am arm around my waist. I looked up, eyebrows raised, hands on his shoulders. _I can't believe I'm actually about to say this…_

"I love you, Doctor." He flashed a smile, sentimental, but silent.

We stood there like that for a while, looking at each other, hearts pounding- or at least, mine was. With his free hand he lifted my chin and looked into my eyes, almost regretfully. Then he kissed my forehead softly.

"Do you know what I'm going to say?" I raised my eyebrows.

"What?"

"Spoilers."


End file.
